Guardian Angel
by Xelskyr
Summary: Matt Anderson was a normal Freshman in high school, that is until he's killed by a Hollow and becomes a Soul Reaper. Now to help Matt protect his best friend and control his powers, Ichigo has to teach this Soul Reaper newbie everything he knows. R
1. Chapter 1: An Angel gets its Wings

Guardian Angel

Chapter 1

**An Angel gets its Wings**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Bleach, I swear!

Alrighty, this is the first time I've delved into the world of Bleach in detail. I really, _really, _love Bleach, so I'm gonna do my best not to screw the pooch or anything. It'll focus around my OC Matt, and his adventures with a bunch of the Bleach stars, (ex. Ichigo, Renji, Urahara, Byakuya, even Grimmjow) and his developing skills from a Soul Reaper newbie to reaching his full potential.

For those of you reading this who are also fans of my other story _Fateful XIII, _don't worry, this won't take away from my updates too much, I just got hit with some inspiration and had to put it up. If you're strictly a Bleach fan though, just sit back and enjoy. If you like it, then I'll get more chapters out ASAP, just know this isn't my only story at the moment, so don't expect consistent updates.

Enough of me talking, just go ahead and read.

* * *

Matt Anderson, a normal fifteen year old high school Freshman, walked down the suburban streets of Seattle, Washington. He was on his way over to meet his best friend, Holly Nelson, at her house. See, it was a Saturday, and Saturday was always the day they hung out together; played video games, watched TV, saw movies, whatever. This year though, a lot of things changed. Holly got herself a boyfriend, Brandon; he was a Junior and on the basketball team.

Brandon and Matt had friction immediately; over the course of the year, Holly had been spending more and more time with Brandon over him. That really worried him, he felt like he was slowly losing his best friend, and he definitely wasn't in the market for a new one. He wasn't what you called 'socially graceful'. That was part of the reason Brandon was able to pull Holly away from him, he'd begun to convinced her that she was wasting his time on Matt, that she'd been babysitting him long enough. Apparently it was working, but he'd figure something out.

He turned the corner and walked up her front lawn, it was a pretty big yellow house, lots of windows and a two car garage. The lawn was a luscious and well kept light green, with fresh lawnmower tracks running down horizontally. He walked up the cobblestone walkway, and onto the wooden porch. Once the doorbell was rung, he waited a few seconds, and then heard footsteps behind the door.

On the other side of the threshold, stood a girl only slightly shorter than him, with shoulder length blond hair, deep brown eyes, and slightly tanned skin. She contrasted him pretty well, considering he had short black hair and dark blue eyes.

"Hey Holly, what's up?" he asked as he walked in.

"Hey Matt, not much really, I'm just working on my story."

They both headed up the stairs to her room.

"Cool, how's that going by the way?"

"Pretty well, I'm almost finished."

"Any chance I can read it early?" he asked pleadingly.

"No way, not until it's finished and edited, it's gotta be perfect."

They both entered her room on the second floor; it was always where they were most Saturdays. She had a desk with her computer and an HDTV hanging on her wall across from her queen sized bed. Her walls were a robin's egg blue and had a dresser in the corner with a bunch of photos of past years. Her room, hell, her house in general was pretty expensive. Her father was a judge and her mom was a residency director at a nearby hospital.

Things were a bit different for Matt. His dad was a doctor too, but he worked at a small clinic and his mom was an elementary school teacher, so there wasn't nearly as much money coming in.

She walked back over to her desk and began typing again, and Matt watched over her shoulder. She'd always been good at that sort of thing; writing was one of her best attributes. For a while now he'd been itching to know just what she was so furiously writing about; all he knew was it was fiction and that it had something to do with angels and stuff like that.

"So, can you at least tell me what it's about?"

"You already know what it's about," she said without looking up.

Matt crossed his arms. "Come on, you're almost finished anyway, just tell me about the main character or something; throw me a bone here!"

She sighed and leaned back in her chair, stopping her rapid typing.

"Fine, basically the main character is a normal guy who's actually part angel. He's got the flaming claymore and the wings and all that cool stuff."

"What's his name?" he asked.

"What?"

"I said, what's the main characters name?"

"…Matt," she said, looking slightly embarrassed.

He smiled and put his arms around her shoulders, then did a sarcastic 'Aw'.

"You like me, you really like me!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Oh, shut up," she said blandly.

He laughed and let go of her, plopping down on her bed.

"So, what did you want to do today?"

She saved and closed down her book, and pushed in her chair.

"Actually, we can't hang out today; I promised I'd spend today with Brandon."

Somehow, Matt had seen that coming a mile away. It was only a matter of time before the jackass started attacking his and Holly's most sacred tradition of goofing off on Saturday.

"Oh come on, you and I always hang out on Saturday! Can't you guys go out some other time?"

"No we can't, he's going to be out of town most of Sunday, and all next week is finals so he has to study. Today is the only day I have with him."

He flopped onto his back on her bed and scoffed.

"What?" she asked, sounding a little annoyed.

"Nothing, I should probably get going," he said as he got up off her bed.

"Well…you don't have to go this second; you can stick around for a little while if you want."

He turned around and put on a fake smile. "Nah, it's okay; I'll let you have your day with Brandon."

He hopped down her stairs and to the front door, slamming it shut. He wasn't sure if it was intentional or not, but he didn't really care. He didn't feel like heading home, and there was really nothing to do without Holly, so he decided to head to the park and just sit around. He always went to the park when he was upset; it was a place for him to think and not be bothered by anyone. There was a secluded area that no one ever went to other than himself and sometimes Holly.

It was also pretty convenient considering that the park was only a block or two from Holly's house. The sky was cloudy out that day, but it wasn't supposed to rain today it should be okay. After crossing two streets and dodging a kid on a bike, he was at the grassy field of the park. It was mostly a bunch of trees and concrete pathways, but there was also a small playground for younger kids. His destination however, was off the beaten path, so to speak. He headed for the treeline, jumped over the bushes, and ran through the thicket of trees. He ran for about a half a mile before hitting a clearing with a small pond and a single tree overlooking it.

He had discovered this place a few years ago when he wandered away from his parents and got lost. He got scared and ran around in random directions trying to find his way back when he stumbled across this place. Here it was a completely inviting environment; a shady tree, calming water, and the chirps of nearby birds.

He walked over and plopped down against the trunk of the tree, facing the pond. He crossed his arms and legs, getting comfortable and laying his head back, planning on taking a nap. He wasn't sure why, but taking a nap always made him feel better, even when something horrible happened, a good nap and waking up in a place like this could only make him smile. And a smile was something he could definitely use right now.

He was just about to settle in for some sleep when he felt a weird tingle. It wasn't like goose-bumps where you felt cold, this was more of a warm tingle. Despite how it felt, he couldn't help but think there was something wrong here, and this tingling of his was screaming to him. He decided that home suddenly didn't sound so bad.

As he got up, the ground suddenly shook, and the pond had ripples dancing around on its surface. Then another shake; the ripples got bigger, and so did the tingling in the back of his neck. It was definitely time to go. He started running, but the shaking ground kept tripping him up, and as the series of small quakes seemed to be reaching its climax, he had fallen over and was on his back.

That's when he saw it, the black monstrosity that was shaking the ground with a bleach white skeletal mask on its face. It had a gaping hole where its heart should have been, and just being around it suddenly made him sick to his stomach and drained the color from his skin. As it got closer, his stomach slowly turned inside out; he was too scared to move, either that or he was too curious for his own.

In a matter of second, it was standing over him, looking down at him with glutinous red eyes. It put it's face down to him, and stared at him eye-to-eye, then rose up again a few seconds later.

"Ah, you'll make a fine lunch," he said, licking his outer-teeth with his abnormally long tongue. That's when Matt gained the courage to speak.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, back the truck up! Did you say lunch?"

He laughed in his deep demonic voice.

"Yes, but first, let's get you out of that annoying body of yours!" he shouted as he plunged down his fist. Matt rolled to the side out of nervous reflex, and the fist crashed down into the ground, crushing it with the force of the blow. Unfortunately, his second hand came down and grasped the fifteen year old in his large hand, and tossed him clear across the clearing.

Landed on the ground and skidded into a tree. He felt a sharp pain in his left arm and his neck was wet. He felt the back of his head with his good arm, feeling blood dripping from an open wound. He felt pretty dizzy from the blow, and the pain in his arm –which he suspected was broken- wasn't helping much. Before he could examine himself anymore however, the monster leaped in front of him smashed the tree he was leaning against, sending splinters flying everywhere.

Matt somersaulted through the creatures parted legs, and tried to make a run for it again, but soon found himself pinned under another giant hand. He struggled to get free, but it was pretty useless, the monster's grip was like steel. He could feel the pressure increasing, as well as the pain. Then he suddenly let go, and Matt took the opportunity. The stumbled up and began a mad dash for the treeline, but stopped with his stomach suddenly felt extremely…different.

He looked down and paled. The monster's index finger –or claw- had pierced through his body. He felt it free itself from his bowels, making it hurt all that much more now that his innards were exposed to the open air. He grew extremely tired all of a sudden and his body slumped over, landing in a growing puddle of his own blood. After hitting the ground, everything went black…at least for a second.

Then, all of a sudden, he was standing again; the pain was gone, and he felt just as good as he'd always had. He looked around, he was still in the clearing, and the monster was still there, the only thing different was that his body was still on the ground covered in blood. He looked at himself to find he was slightly transparent, but only slightly. He also had a chain connecting him to his body, which only served to confuse him.

"There we are, now I can eat!" bellowed the monster.

Matt didn't need any more provocation than that; he bolted away. Of course, he forgot he was connected to his body by a chain, and ended up falling onto his back. He looked up and the monster was still making its way to him, and his fear was growing. He began tugging on the chain that seemed to anchor him to his body. He was pulling with all his might when the white masked creature stood right above him. He kept pulling and pulling to no avail until right before the monster was about to grab him and the chain finally snapped.

Now that he was free, he frantically scrambled away, tripping again, but getting up quickly. He turned to face the monster one last time, and then he felt that warm tingle again. It was different this time though, it was much stronger and much, much warmer, almost hot, like 'someone set him on fire' hot. The weirdest part was, it was building.

The ground around him started to shake, not from the monster, but from him. He looked down; dirt was being kicked up into air and he was growing more visible again. Suddenly, a huge burst of orange energy of some kind was emitting from the ground all around him, it almost looked like fire. It may have looked like fire, but it didn't feel like it, it felt more like a warm blanket enveloping him, slowly wearing down and taking shape.

After a few seconds, it died down and he looked completely different. His shirt and jeans were gone, and in its place was a black robe with a white sash; it looked sort of Japanese. Also, he felt a strap over his shoulder and a heavy weight on his back. He reached his hand back and felt a leather handle and metal farther down, and realized it was a sword.

He grasped the hilt and drew it; it was a slim claymore that looked long enough to be two-handed, but was light enough to be held with one. The hilt was black leather, and the guard and pommel were silver with gold lining. The blade looked to be made out of some kind of iron or steel, and it had a symbol at the base of the blade. It was gold as well. There were three interconnected loops with a circle passing through all three; a Christian Triquetra. It was a stunning blade.

He heard the monster in front of him growl, and he held the sword tighter; he felt stronger just by holding it.

"Soul Reaper, you will be a great meal indeed!" he snarled.

"Soul Reaper?" he asked. He never got an answer, instead the monster charged forward with his claws ready and roaring like an animal. Matt ran forward to, moving faster than he'd ever moved before. From his point of view, the creature was now moving extremely slow, and he had no problem sidestepping his punch and severing his hand. It reeled back and screamed in agony as blood sprayed from its wrist.

Matt kept the attack going, and sprinted forward again, cutting off its left leg. The monster toppled over at the loss of another limb, and was now screaming on its back, blood shooting out from two wounds. He leaped onto its torso and stood over his masked face.

"How's this for lunch," he said as he plunged the blade into its forehead, cracking the mask and causing it to slowly dissolve until it completely faded away.

Once it was gone, Matt rushed over to his body. He kneeled down and looked over it; it was still bleeding profusely, all the color was virtually drained away, and his left arm was still in a strange angle. What confused him the most was how he was here, yet there at the same time, unless he was a ghost or something. He poked his motionless form, but nothing happened. He was thinking the whole thing over when he heard someone call his name.

"Matt! Matt!" called the voice, a voice he recognized as Holly's.

"Holly!" he yelled back.

A second later, she appeared from behind the brush. He stood up and ran over to her, but his hand just seemed to pass through her. Maybe he really was a ghost.

"Oh my god, Matt!" she cried.

Matt ran after her, and the two of them stood over his bloody body. All he could do was stand there and watch her as she lightly touched his now vacant face before completely breaking down and started crying. He put away his sword and sat down on the opposite side of his body that she was kneeling at.

"Matt, no…I said you could stay…why didn't you stay? This is all my fault…I should've just…spent the day with you like always…then maybe you'd still be…" she said through fits of tears and whimpers.

"Come on, I'm right here," he whispered, trying in vain to touch her face. He wished there were some way he could tell her he was alright, that she didn't need to blame herself. Though if there wasone, he didn't see it.

She sat back up, and pulled out her phone and dialed 911. It wasn't much good at this point, but she still had to call him in to the police. While she was frantically babbling words into the little device, he sat there and sighed.

"You may not be able to see or hear me, but I'm still not leaving you," he said as he crossed over his body and sat down next to her.

* * *

Over the course of the next few hours, Matt stayed with Holly as the police and paramedics arrived. A bunch of detectives and officers started surveying the area and a few others took Holly off for questioning. Matt was easily able to keep up with the car just by running and jumping, which was a huge surprise to him, considering he was never much of an athlete. He was in the small questioning room where they asked her where she was, when she found him, what she was doing before that, stuff like that. All the way, he was right next to her; even though he was sure she had no idea he was even there.

After her parents picked her up, the three of them plus Matt went to Matt's house to stay with his parents for a while. They were even more hysterical than Holly, and it really hurt Matt that they didn't know he was standing in the room with them, listening to every word. He didn't want to leave his parents, but he was really worried about Holly, and what all this might have done to her head, so he followed her home to watch over her, at least until he was satisfied she'd be okay.

As the day went by, _he _was starting to get depressed. It was a continuous cycle of crying hysterically, shutting down emotionally for a while, lashing out angrily, then repeat. He'd never seen her like this before; she'd always been the rational one of the two. It was nine o'clock at night when her mother finally came up and tried to calm her down.

She held her tight as she was in another one for her random fit of tears, and all Matt could do was watch as he sat in a corner of her room.

"Why…why did he have to…d-die?"

"It's okay dear; I know it hurts now, but he's in a better place, and I know he's watching over you. Just get some sleep; we'll talk more about it in the morning."

She nodded, wiping away her tears with her already stained sleeves.

Her mother turned off the lights and she started getting ready for bed, which was Matt's cue to rush for the door. He might have been a ghost, but there was no way he was going to be known in the afterlife as a Peeping Tom. After a few minutes, he walked back through the door into the room –he was surprised by the fact that he could walk through walls when he wanted to- and saw that Holly was now in bed. He walked up to her and looked down at her already sleeping form; she must have exhausted herself from all the events of today.

He reached down, knowing full well he couldn't actually touch her, but did it out of instinct.

"I really wish I could just tell you I'm alright, that you don't have to worry about me. I promise I'll make it up to you, for putting you through all this."

"What I regret the most though, is that I never got to tell you that you were like a sister to me. You always watched my back, always stuck with me even when I made a total ass of myself. Keeping an eye on you for a while is the least I can do," he said as he un-slung his claymore and settled down at the foot of her bed.

"I really just wish you could hear me...just for a second."

What he didn't know was that –whether it was an act of fate, destiny, or some unexplainable phenomenon- she had heard every word, and spent the rest of the night with a smile on her face as she slept.

* * *

**There you have it, the first chapter for my first fic for Bleach. I hope I did alright with it, and don't worry, the familiar characters we know and love with start popping up next chapter. It'll start Matt's journey to figure out what's going on with him and to develop his abilities. Matt will unlock his Shikai pretty early on, but don't expect to see his Bankai for a while, I want that moment to be as emotional and kick ass as possible. **

**Oh, and to clarify, this story takes place approximately five years after the current storyline of the Bleach anime/manga and it will be shaped based on how I think the story will go. Enemies could be friends, friends could be enemies, and some characters might not even be alive anymore.**

**Review and tell me how I did please! No problem with criticism, just no flames or nothin' like that, because I'll disregard them on the spot.  
**


	2. Chapter 2: Soul Reaper

Guardian Angel

Chapter 2

**Soul Reaper**

**Disclaimer: **Yeah...I don't own bleach, but God knows I wish I did.

Okay guys, some familiar characters will show up this chapter, so I hope that makes you happy. I really can't wait until I get to reveal Matt's Shikai and his zanpakuto spirit, I think it'll be really cool. I've put a lot of thought into his powers, and I already have his Bankai figured out, as well as some other surprises along the way. For now though, he's stuck with his sealed form, which is still pretty bad-ass.

One last note; big thanks to Human.Vizard for this story's first review. And to answer your question, the first chapter and about half of this one here take place in Seattle, Washington.

...I've got to stop talking so much.

* * *

Matt woke with a start the next morning; thinking for a second that everything that happened yesterday was a crazy dream. When he was his black robe and the sword in his hands, that hope was crushed. He was still…whatever he was, he wasn't sure exactly. He noticed that Holly was still asleep, and that it was around six in the morning. He knew Holly wouldn't be getting up for at least another three hours, and he wasn't tired in the least, so he decided now would be a good time to try out the new speed and strength he seemed to have.

He leapt out of her open window and onto the house across the street, feeling the cool early morning breeze against his 'skin'. Even with the heavy blade on his back, he was still able to easily leap from house to house. He took the time to run some of the thoughts he was thinking yesterday through his head. Mostly why no one could see him when he felt just as alive as he did yesterday, and also what that monster was that killed him. Another big question was how he got this sword and seemed to be a super hero of sorts now, he was stronger and faster and he had no idea why.

It wasn't until he was about ten minutes into his run that he realized he was getting into the more urbanized areas of Seattle. The residential houses were giving way to brick buildings and other large structures. He stopped on the roof of a shoe shop, and looked out at the city in the distance; it was already bustling with cars and lights. Even here, there were plenty of people and vehicles already on the move.

He was actually thankful for not being able to be seen right then, it gave him a way to think about things anywhere he wanted with no one bugging him. He just wished that he didn't have to have died to gain it. He actually felt a little guilty, here he was enjoying himself, and his parents and best friend were crying their eyes out because he was dead.

His thoughts were cut short though, when a familiar tingle in the back of his neck, the same one he felt when he was attacked by that monster. This one felt a little different though; it was less threatening, but at the same time, more powerful. The feeling was increasing in intensity, indicating it was coming towards him, but he couldn't tell from where. To be safe he drew his sword, and kept and eye open while leaping to a building across the street that was much higher up and gave him a better view. The feeling was still growing until it almost felt like it was burning him, and he held onto the back of his neck to try and ease the pain.

Suddenly, a black blur flew across his peripheral vision, and he ignored the pain for a moment and brought up his claymore. He looked around frantically, but there wasn't anyone around. He was about to put it away when he felt something cold against the side of his neck.

"You know, for the amount of spiritual pressure you're emitting, you seem really weak," said a male voice behind him. It had a heavy British accent to it.

"Who are you?" Matt asked, trying not to sound scared.

"The name's Nathan Yester, Lieutenant of the thirteenth division, who are you; I want name, rank, and division."

This whole situation was confusing him; since when has he ever been mistaken for a soldier? He hardly even knew how to fight. Well, either way, this guy might just know what was going on.

"Uh…my name's Mathew Anderson, as for rank, I don't even have one, and I don't belong to a division either," he answered nervously but honestly.

"To be perfectly honest, I've been pretty confused as to what the hells going on here. For one, have you ever seen a monster with a white mask?"

"Huh, you mean a Hollow, what Soul Reaper hasn't?"

"Hollow's, so that's what they're called, I guess it makes sense because of the hole," he said more to himself than anyone else.

"You're an odd one, you know that?"

"I've been told that all my life, now can you put down the sword," he asked.

He offered no response, but pulled away the blade and sheathed it, allowing Matt to turn around and get a look at him. He had shaggy red hair and an identical black Japanese robe as Matt. He had a katana slung around his waist, and his hand was still hanging onto the hilt. Matt still held onto his claymore, but had it in an nonthreatening position. He looked a good few years older than himself, maybe early twenties.

"So, if you're not with the Soul Society, then who are you?" demanded Nathan.

"Man, I don't even know! One minute I'm relaxing, the next thing I know, one of the Hollow things kills me and I break this weird chain thing, and then get this sword!"

Nathans eyes widened, and Matt backed up a little.

"What, is something wrong?"

"Exactly when did you get your zanpakuto?" he asked.

"Zan-whaty-what?"

"The sword, when did you get the sword?" he asked again, frustrated.

"Oh, uh...a few seconds after I broke that chain. Why, it that important?"

"If by important you mean that it's never happened before, then yes, it's important. I didn't think it was possible to gain Soul Reaper powers right after dying."

"Soul Reaper...hey, that's what that Hollow called me. Is that what I am now, a Soul Reaper?"

"No, you may have Soul Reaper powers, but you aren't part of the Soul Society and, from what I can tell, you have no idea how to control your spiritual pressure."

"Right...I have no idea what the hell you're talking about."

"Never mind, just come with me," he said, pulling out his katana again.

"Sorry, cant do that."

Nathan looked confused again, and gripped his katana tighter, which made Matt grip his clamore tighter as well.

"Why not?"

"Because, I've got someone I need to look after for a little while. Your 'Soul Society' can wait, I've got more important things to do."

"Fine then, I'll just _make_ you come with me," said Nathan as he got into a fighting stance.

Matt brought up his claymore as well and waited for the redhead to make a move. Nathan stepped forward, then disappeared. He reappeared behind him, and swung his katana. Matt had just enough time to duck and somersault away, quickly rolling onto his feet and bringing up his claymore to block Nathan's next slash. He was struggling just to hold off the blade, it was like he was hitting him with a skyscraper; his muscles were burning and he noticed his claymore had started cracking.

Suddenly, Nathen disappeared, and reappeared behind him again. Matt felt the katana slice into his back, and he fell to his hands and knees, then rolled away again, slowly standing.

"What's that matter, never had to deal with shunpo before?"

Matt was getting frustrated with his purely defensive role in the fight.

"I don't even understand what the fuck you're talking about, so quit wasting you breath!" he shouted as he charged the redhead. He swung his claymore, intent on hitting Nathan head, but the Soul Reaper had other idea's. He twisted to the side, dodging Matt's blade, and at the same time delivered a hard kick to his left side. The force of the blow blew him off the roof of the building, and onto the next door building.

Matt was on his back, grunting in pain as the rough surface scraped against his open wound. Nathan leaped down and landed on top of his wounded opponent, knocking the wind from his lungs. He hopped off the downed kid, and stood over him, looking victorious.

"Ready to give up yet?"

"You wish," he hissed as he rolled onto his side and swiped at Nathans legs. He easily jumped away, giving Matt time to stand up again.

He brought up his claymore once again, just in time to block another strike from Nathan. The force seemed even greater this time, and his blade cracked even more, causing fragments of metal to chip off. What was going on, why was Nathans sword so much stronger than his, why was his the one being damaged?

All of this was starting to piss him off. It was bad enough he was dead and his best friend was blaming herself for it, but now he was getting his ass handed to him by a complete stranger. He was so busy being mad he didn't notice that there was an orange aura growing around him, or that his blade was repairing itself before both their eyes. It was hard for Nathan to miss though, and whats more, is that he noticed he was now losing ground. Matt was slowly but surely pushing him back, and now his zanpakuto was the one cracking.

As the aura around Matt grew, his claymore began to slice through Nathans zanpakuto like a hot knife through butter. In a matter of seconds, half of Nathans katana was on the ground, and had a slash wound of his own running down his chest. Matt kept up his onslaught of attacks, continuously swinging his glowling blade wildly. Nathan was still able to block the attakcs with his now severed blade, but the force of the blows were increasing and the exess reiatsu was creating shockwaves in the air and shattered the concrete walls and glass windows of nearby buildings.

'_What the hell! Where did all this spiritual pressure come from? It doesn't matter, I've got to end this!'_

The two them had their blades locked at the edge of the building, and Nathan was coming close to falling off completely. The redhead was finally able to push off his younger attacker and regain his balance.

"Alright, this is getting old, time to end this; 'Slice with the Wind: _**Teikiatsu**__**!**_'

Matt had to shield his eyes as Nathan erupted in a torrent of blue reiatsu, forcing him back from the sheer amount of pressure he was emmiting. When the blue lights of his reiatsu dispersed, he stood there with an entirely new weapon. It was a long pole weapon with what looked like a katana blade at the end, but shorter. The blade was mostly black except for the edge, which was silver, and the pole looked to be made of white oak with a black bandage grip in the middle. Another, longer, black bandage was tied around the end of the pole and all along his right forearm.

"Whoa, what's that?" Matt asked in amazement.

"it's my zanpakuto's shikai state, _Teikaitsu, _it means 'cyclone'. This weapons is a naginata, like a katana-spear hybrid, very effective. Allow me to demonstrate."

He threw the weapon into the air, then began twirling the bandage, which in turn, began to make it spin in a huge arc over his head. Suddenly he whipped it back and then just as suddenly, thrust it forward. The naginata flew forward at him with incredible speed. Matt tried to block it with the flat side of his claymore's blade, but as soon as the blades collided, his claymore shattered into hundreds of fragments and the naginata impaled him in the upper left side of his chest.

He was pushed off the edge of the building and collided with the wall of the building across the street; the blade keeping him suspended against the hard brick. At this point, he was pretty out of it due to blood loss and the fact that he had expended a lot of reiatsu. (A/N: Remember, he's still new at this Soul Reaper thing, and that aura of his uses massive amounts of energy. I'll explain why later on.)

As Nathan removed his naginata with a forceful tug, Matt fell to the ground below, landing on an empty sidewalk. the redhead jumped down to see if he was down this time. He flipped him over and checked his pulse, he was alive, just out cold.

"Well, lets get you to the captain, he'll want to talk to you," he said to himself as he knelt down and threw him over his shoulder.

A black butterfly suddenly appeared, and Nathan created a_ senkaimon _to the Soul Society, with Matt over his shoulder and the hell butterfly leading the way.

* * *

Matt slowly opened his eyes, he had one hell of a headache, and his back hurt. The last thing he remembered was fighting that Nathan guy, and losing. He tried to sit up, but his back and chest both protested and he fell back. It was then he realized he was on a bed, and in a completely different place. The walls and floor were some kind of wood, and it was pretty bright. That was when he heard someone walk through the sliding door and into the room.

He looked up to see the familiar red hair of Nathans and tried in vain to sit up. Nathan found his squirming amusing and laughed while grabbing a chair.

"Relax, I'm not here to kill you or anything, unless you start giving me trouble again," he said as he sat down.

Matt disregarded that, and instead got straight to asking questions. "Where am I?"

"You're in the good ol' Soul Society. Of course if you want to get specific, you're in the 4th division infirmary. I had to get the both of us cleaned up before we meet the captain," he explained.

"Please, you were hardly hurt," he groaned to himself.

"You're wrong there mate, you got me pretty good in the chest. You might not be able to control that reiatsu of yours, but damn it all if you don't have a lot of it," he complimented.

He slid farther up on his bed. "Uh, thanks I guess."

"Well, hop to it, we've got to get moving now," he said as he rose from his chair and yanked Matt up and out of his bed. He ground his teeth from the sudden pain in his back, but had no real trouble standing or walking around.

He followed Nathan out of the infirmary in into the outer courtyard of the barracks. Once outside, he was amazed as to how many Soul Reapers there were. Dozens of people in those black robes making their way through the various buildings. He walked next to Nathan and started asking more questions.

"So, how many divisions are there?"

"Thirteen, but there's also groups like the special forces who aren't part of any of the divisions. You already know I'm the Lieutenant of the thirteenth division."

"Then what does that mean?"

"It means that I'm the second in command of the division, and the second strongest fighter. The only ones above me are some other Lieutenants and Captain class Soul Reapers."

They turned a corner, and began walking through the maze like streets of the Seireitei. They passed a few more Soul Reapers along the, all wielding katana that were the same, but with subtle differences.

"Cool, another question though, how did you make your zan...whatever change like that?" he asked.

"First of all, it's called a zanpakuto, and second, I unleashed it's shikai form."

"What's that?"

"it's the first transformation of a zanpakuto. See, every zanpakuto, even yours, has a name; when you learn its name, you can unleash it's shikai form and its true power," he explained.

"Hm, I wonder what mine's name is?"

"Wouldn't know, but don't worry, you'll be the first one to figure it out."

"Heh, guess so."

They turned another corner, and were met with huge gates about half way down. Nathan waved to the two guards, and they opened the gates without incident. Behind the gates were even more Soul Reapers and what Matt assumed was the thirteenth division barracks.

"So, this is the thirteenth division, huh?" asked Matt, taking in the sights.

"Yup, been my home for about sixty years now."

"Hold up, did you say sixty? How old are you?"

"Hold on a sec," he said as he moved his index finger in the air, doing imaginary calculations, "eh, somewhere in the ballpark of late seventies or early eighties, I know I died fighting in WWII."

"You were in World War II!?"

"Royal Air Force; God I miss the Spitfire's, those were the best damn planes anyone could ask for."

"I wouldn't know, I was about fifty or so years late to the party," he said as they entered the main barracks.

They walked down the wooden hallways, passing even more Soul Reapers along the way. Two of them, a blond girl and a guy with a white headband and some pretty freaky black hair, walked by and gave Nathan a dirty look. When they were gone, Matt sped up and walked next to Nathan again.

"Who were those two?"

"Oh, just Kiyone and Sentaro, they'd been fighting over who'd get the Lieutenant spot for years until I got recommended for it. They've hated me ever since."

"Huh, sucks for them," he shrugged.

"Yeah well, here we are. Just remember, he's the captain, so show respect when speaking," he warned.

"Got it, no sarcasm," he gave a two fingered salute.

"Alright then."

He pushed the two doors open to reveal the office on the other side. On the other side of the room was a desk with a white haired man doing some paperwork until he heard his doors open, and looked up. He looked nice enough, a calm exterior and a kind smile; sort of like a fatherly figure.

"Good news captain, I found the source of that huge spiritual pressure spike," said Nathan.

"That is good news, what do you have to report?"

"It came from this kid," he said, jerking his thumb over his shoulder, pointing at Matt. The fifteen year old waved from behind him, putting on a nice-guy smile.

"Impressive; who, may I ask, are you?" he asked, with a very inviting and calm tone.

"Mathew Anderson, sir, but you can just call me Matt if you want."

"Very well then; Matt, my name is Captain Jushiro Ukitake"

"Nice to meet you," Matt greeted.

"Likewise, now may I ask what you were doing in the Human World that required such a vast amount of reiatsu?"

"Uh..."

Nathan took the time to cut in. "Actually sir, that's what I really wanted to talk with you about, he's a very...special case."

The captain looked perplexed. "How so, Nathan?"

Nathan took a seat in front of the desk, and motioned Matt to follow. He did, and the captain stared intently at him. Not in a suspicious way, just curious.

"Well sir, from what he's told me, it seems that up until yesterday he was a human, but was killed by a Hollow. When he broke his Soul Chain, he apparently gained Soul Reaper powers. I can also say from experience, that he can emit a _lot_ of spiritual pressure; I was dizzy the second I left the Seireitei, the kid's like a lighthouse."

"I'm not sure if I should be offended by that or not," commented Matt.

"Well, that is and interesting phenomenon. In fact, I don't think anything like that has ever happened naturally before, and you are right Nathan, he does have an extraordinary amount of reiatsu. I haven't sensed that much spiritual power in one person since..." his sentence faded away as he held his chin in thought.

"So what do we do with him sir?" asked Nathan.

"We could send him off to the academy, but I don't think that would do much for him."

"Look, I appreciate everything you guys are probably thinking about doing, but I have to get back to the Human World," said Matt as he tried to get up. Nathan quickly put a hand on his chest and pushed him back into his chair.

"Not so fast, you can't just got back and play around willy-nilly. There are rules that everyone with Soul Reaper powers must follow."

"I don't care, I've got people back there that I need to know are okay!" he shouted.

The captain put up his hand and silence both of them. "Settle down, both of you. I have a suggestion that will remedy both situations," he said as he opened a drawer in his desk.

He pulled out a brown pendant looking object with a weird skull design on it, and a cross running through it. He set it down on the desk in from of Matt.

"Do you know what that is?" he asked.

He shook his head, but knew he was about to get an answer.

"That is what is called a Deputy Soul Reaper badge, it is a special badge granted to chosen Soul Reapers that allows them free passage in the Human World with little constraints by the Soul Society."

"How's the kid going to earn one of those, there's only about two people in the world with those badges?"

"I have someone in mind; he's an old friend and the last person I gave one of these badges out to. His situation, while not identical to Matt's, is similar in the respect that he gained his powers through unconventional means. Also, Matt may just be the only person I've ever seen who may have more reiatsu than him," explained the captain.

"So what does this mean for me?" asked Matt.

"Matt, I will send you off to small town in Japan, Karakura town. There lives a man named Ichigo Kurosaki, an extremely powerful Soul Reaper who's opinion carries much weight throughout the Soul Society. I will convince him to train you, and if he believes you have potential, and I know he will, it won't be hard for me to grant you Deputy status. Once you are a Deputy, you will have the freedom to traverse the Human World as you choose, as well as the freedom to destroy Hollows in your home town."

"Wow...wait, if this guy's Japanese, how am I gonna understand him?"

"Don't worry, one of a Soul Reapers, and most spiritually aware peoples abilities is to transfer any foreign language into their own; he will be able to understand you perfectly, and vice-versa."

"Awesome."

"Nathan, if you would, please take young Matt to fetch a gigai and then take him to Karakura, I will contact Kurosaki."

Nathan stood and gave a quick bow, "understood sir."

Matt stood and gave a slight bow as well, and followed Nathan out of the room. Before they were completely out of earshot Jushiro heard Matt ask, "What's a gigai?", and laughed to himself.

* * *

Meanwhile in Karakura town, Ichigo was enjoying his Monday night by staying in his room and listening to music while doing some last minute studying before bed; he was attending Karakura University. (A/N: Let's just say for the sake of argument that Karakura town has a college.) He was pulling pretty good grades and the hollows didn't seem to be giving him much trouble. His life seemed to be pretty boring since Aizen was defeated five years ago; he almost missed it...almost.

Sure he saw his friends now and then, and he still sparred against Renji and Grimmjow from time to time, but other than that, he wasn't really _needed_ much anymore. Which had it's pro's and con's. The pro's were that he didn't have to worry about his friends and family getting hurt, and he didn't have to overwork himself training just to beat the next bad guy. The con's though, were that he was bored. After fighting a war and facing down the most powerful foes the afterlife had to offer, college didn't really send his adrenaline spiking.

Suddenly, his soul pager started vibrating. (A/N: Yes, he has a soul pager now, it's been five years people!) He picked it up and read the message:

_Ichigo_

_Visitor for you, he will explain situation  
_

_-Jushiro_

"Visitor, huh? Wonder what going on," he asked himself as he slipped it back in his pocket. Maybe his boredom was coming to an end.

* * *

**FINALLY! Chapter 2 is finished! You guys have no idea how much of a bitch this was to write, I'm seriously glad I'm done. Next chapter should be easier to do, now that I have some of the finer details smoothed out.**

** Matt will be spending the next few chapters with Ichigo, either training or meeting some of our most beloved Bleach characters. I know you guys might be wondering, 'hey, where's Rukia, why isn't she the 13th divisions Leiutenant?'. To answer that, she is still with the 13th division, but she's the 4th seat officer. I can't really see her as a Leiutenant; not that I don't think she's strong, she just doesn't strike me as the Leiutenant type. She will appear in a few chapters down the road.  
**

**On another note; expect to be impressed when you see Matt's Shikai and his unique attacks. Also, his zanpakuto spirit will be a big surprise; although, if you've been paying attention to the subtle hints I've been dropping, your guesses should be in the ballpark. **

* * *


	3. Chapter 3: Gonna be a Handful

Guardian Angel

Chapter 3

Gonna be a Handful

**Disclaimer: **I no own Bleach.

I'm back again with chapter three! Our good ol' Ichigo is back, and we'll also check in on Holly. This one is a little less eventful, but is pretty funny as Matt meets some of the Bleach characters.

I'd like to announce that I have a new favorite reader! HistugayaToshiro96, who reviewed, favorited...did pretty much everything short of coming to my house and writing the damn story for me. I've never had so many e-mail alerts hit me at the same time from one person before. In honor of your good deeds, this chapter is dedicated to you!

...Anyway, lets get moving.

* * *

After Nathan had taken Matt to find a gigai –which Matt now decided he hated-, they had set off for Karakura town. It was now Tuesday morning and they were hoping to catch him before he left. The place was a much smaller that Seattle, much quieter to, but it had its charm. He also found that Ukitake had been right, even though everyone was Japanese, he was hearing every word in English; needless to say it was impressive. Now they were walking down the streets and making their way to a place called 'Kurosaki Clinic'.

"So Nathan, what do you know about this Ichigo guy?" Matt asked as they crossed a street.

"I can't say I know much, just rumors and hearsay mostly. The few definite facts I have heard is that he's extremely powerful, stronger than most captains."

"What else?"

"Well, they say he mastered Bankai, the last zanpakuto release, in just three days; for most people it takes at least a century. I've also heard that he fused with a hollow and stole its powers, becoming half Soul Reaper, half Hollow; a being called a Vizard."

Matt wondered about that last rumor, why would anyone want to be half Hollow?"

"Why would he fuse with a Hollow, what purpose could that serve?"

"When a Soul Reaper and a Hollow join their powers together, they become stronger than normal Soul Reapers, and the same goes for Hollows," he explained.

"You mean Hollow's can absorb Soul Reapers?" asked Matt nervously.

"Not on their own no, they need this thing called an Orb of Distortion, but there was only one made, and Kurosaki supposedly destroyed it five years ago."

He sighed in relief; the last thing he wanted was to be absorbed by a Hollow. It was bad enough one had killed him. They turned a corner, and then they saw it; the white angular building that was the Kurosaki Clinic. They walked up to the front door, and Nathan delivered three strong knocks. When the door finally opened, Matt and Nathan were staring at a blond girl about Matt's height and age who looked a little like Holly, the only difference was her hair was slightly shorter and of a darker shade.

"Hello?" she asked in a soft but inviting voice.

Matt leaned in on Nathan and asked, "So who is she?"

"How the bloody hell am I supposed to know, didn't I just say I never met the guy?" he whispered back.

"Well she doesn't look like a Soul Reaper, so how are we supposed to talk to her?"

"I speak Japanese you twat."

"_You_ speak Japanese?"

"Yes I speak Japanese. Most Soul Reapers are Japanese; it's practically their primary language; I thought it would come in handy. Apparently, I was right."

"Fine, go for it," he hissed back angrily.

Nathan cleared his throat preparing to talk, but before he could get a word in, the girl interrupted him.

"You know, I can understand everything you're saying."

"Y-you can?" asked Matt.

"Yes, now would you please tell me why you're here, I'm trying to make breakfast?"

"Okay, uh…well my name is Matt Anderson and this is Nathan Yester, we were wondering if Ichigo was still here."

"Yes he is, he should be down in a few minutes; you can come in if you like," she said stepping aside.

"Thank you young lady," said Nathan; Matt followed afterward.

The two walked into the kitchen and sat at the table, Nathan sat straight, but crossed his arms, and Matt was slouching with his arms hanging over the back of his chair. The blond girl walked past them and placed a pile of pancakes on the other end of the table in between the other vacant chairs, along with some syrup and a plate of bacon.

"So where are the two of you from? I can tell by your names that you're not from Japan."

"Well I'm from America, and Nathan over there is from England."

"Wow, so you two are pretty far from home," she said, taking a seat for herself.

"Well I'm not, I lived in Seattle and that's about as west as you can get without heading to Alaska," said Matt.

She was about to respond when a new voice pierced the air, "Hey Yuzu, is breakfast ready yet?" called the voice.

"Yes it is, and you have visitors!"

A second later, the two of them saw the source of the voice, an orange man older than Matt, but younger than Nathan. He looked at the two intently as he grabbed a plate, then took a seat next to Matt.

"So, I'm assuming you're the guys Jushiro mentioned?"

"That's us, we're here because of this twerp next to you," said the Brit.

Ichigo had already been studying him before Nathan had mentioned him, but now he was taking even more interest in the teenager next to him.

"So what's your story?" he asked as he raised a bite of pancake to his mouth.

"Uh...is it okay to talk about this in front of her?" Matt asked uncertantly, gesturing to Yuzu.

"Don't worry, Yuzu knows all about the Soul Reapers and junk, we're all good," he said with his mouth full.

"Okay then, my name is Matt Anderson; basically, two days ago, I was killed by a Hollow, and then suddenly got these Soul Reaper powers after I broke my...Soul Chain was it?" he asked Nathan at the end.

"Yeah, Soul Chain," said Nathan.

Ichigo was still giving him an uninterested stare, but on the inside, the story caught his interest. He'd been a Soul Reaper long enough now to know that someone gaining powers right after death was a virtual impossibility. He could tell Matt wasn't done yet, so he stayed quiet.

"Anyway, the next day I met Nathan and he introduced me to Captain Jushiro. He said that there was something unique about me and my powers, and that you'd be able to help."

"And why would I do that?" he pried.

"Because, I don't honestly care if I'm unique or not, I just want to be able to protect my friend and my family back home, but to do that, I need to become a Deputy Soul Reaper, and to do that, I need you to train me."

That sentence alone was pretty much enough to convince him to help. He could relate to someone wanting to protect their family and friends, that was his motive for becoming stronger after all. Matt still didn't seem to be done stating his arguement, so he let him continue.

"Look, I know you don't know me, and I know you've got your own life to deal with, but you're my only shot to staying with everyone and everything I care about. I don't care if they can't see me or talk to me, keeping them safe from Hollows or whatever else is out there is enough for me," he said, his eyes actually getting a little watery.

"My best friend blames herself for my death you know; I have to be there for her, even if she doesn't know it; be like a guardian angel or something. If you've really done all the things that everyone says you did, then you don't seem like the kind of guy who would turn his back on someone asking for help. Please, she needs me, my family needs me...please, train me," he said as a tear streaked his face.

Ichigo had to admit, that last part was a real heart wrencher. He really felt for the kid, and what monster would turn down a request like that after such a strong and fierce argument. He liked this kid already, he had heart.

"Yeah sure, why the hell not. Meet me at a place called Urahara Shoten at about five, we'll start there," he said, keeping his cool outer exterior.

Matt felt his spirit lifting already. (forgive the pun.)

"Thank you, thank you so much," he said between sighs of relieved.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll see you guys later, I gotta go."

As he walked out the door, another figure entered the room. She looked about the same age as Yuzu, but with black shoulder length hair. She gave Matt and Nathan a weird look but didn't make much of it, just grabbed some of the pancakes and began eating, occasionally glancing at the two of them.

"So, you guys Soul Reapers or something?" she asked suddenly.

"Y-yeah, how'd you know that."

"It's kind of hard to miss with all that spiritual pressure leaking out from you, It's giving me a migrane," she said, pointing at Matt.

"Is it really that bad?" he asked Matt.

" 'Fraid so, I told you kid, you're like a lighthouse; I doubt there's anyone in Japan who can't feel all that pressure coming off you."

"Damn, I didn't thank it was _that _noticeable, how come I can't feel it?"

"Probably because you're new at this Soul Reaper thing and you haven't quite developed your spiritual senses as well as the rest of us," he explained.

"Yeah, probably. So what are we supposed to do now, we've practically all day to kill, it's only eight in the morning."

"Well, I suppose we could go out looking for Hollows. That is our job after all," said Nathan.

"No, it's_ your_ job, I'm not an official Soul Reaper, remember, so I don't get to kill Hollows."

"Don't worry, as long as you're with me it's fine. Besides, one or two Hollows won't do any harm, it's a good thing if anything," he said, pushing out his chair.

"Do you have anywhere we can store our gigai?" he asked Yuzu.

"Yes, just go on ahead, I'll take care of them."

"Why, thank you. Come on Matt." he said.

Nathan hopped out of his gigai, now in his black Soul Reaper robes and zanpakuto, standing where his faux body -which was now slumped over on a chair- used to be. Matt followed suit, and soon he could feel the black fabric on his skin and the weight of his claymore on his back. He had to admit, he never realized how annoying a body was until he walked around as a spirit; it was much more liberating. No hunger or thirst to deal with, no need for breathing, it was way more efficient and easy to deal with.

The two of them exited the house and jumped to the rooftops, trying to sense any nearby Hollows. Well, Nathan was anyway, Matt couldn't sense anything to save his life...literally. While they were jumping through the small city, Matt found himself wondering how Holly was holding up, he hoped he was able to get back to her soon.

* * *

Back in Seattle, it was Monday night, also around nine o' clock. Holly was sitting at her desk staring at her computer screen writing her book. At least that was what she was trying to do, but the words weren't flowing like they used to, she couldn't see everything her characters were doing in her head anymore. She had been sitting there for over three hours and she was still on the same page she had been on when she started.

She laid her head down on the wood of her desk, sighing heavily. It was bad enough her best friend was gone forever and wasn't ever coming back, but the police hadn't even found one shred of evidence that the killer had even been there, it was like he just up and died like magic. The police were going to give it another few days, but if nothing turned up, they were closing the case, which Holly had protested heavily to.

What had bugged her the most through the day though, was the dream she had had the night before. She and Matt were standing in the clearing she had found him in, his favorite spot in the park; he told her that she was like his sister and that she shouldn't blame herself, but she disregarded as a dream cooked up by her imagination. The truth was -in her mind anyway- it was partially her fault. She just _had_ to spend the day with Brandon instead of him, she just _had_ to put a guy she had just met a few months ago before a guy she'd known since first grade. The more she thought about it, the more she realized just how much she must have hurt him by doing that, and she felt horrible inside.

She could still remember the first day the two of them had met.

_Flashback_

_It was Holly's first day of grade school; she had just moved to Seattle from Cleveland and she was a little nervous. She'd managed to make it through most of the day so far, but it was lunchtime, and she didn't know anybody, so she just sat alone in a corner. She was taking a sip of juice when she heard a voice from behind her._

_"Hi," said the person._

_She turned around and came face to face with a boy a little taller than her, black as night hair, and a grin on his face. He was holding a brown bag in his hand and was waiting for a reply._

_"Um...hi," she said nervously._

_"Can I sit with you?" he said, still grinning._

_"O-okay, sure."_

_He climbed into the seat next to her and began digging into his bag. He pulled out a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and began chomping into it. _

_"I'm Matt," he stated with a mouth full of sandwich._

_Holly giggled because she thought he sounded funny and had made a little bit of a mess around his mouth from taking such a large bite._

_"You're funny Matt, I'm Holly."_

_Matt grinned even more and said, "Cool, I guess were friends now."_

_"I guess so," she agreed._

_From that day forward, the two of them were inseparable. _

_End of Flashback_

She actually laughed at the old memory, how easy it was to be friends with him. He was always the one on the initiative, always the one to try something new; it was the entire reason they were friends. That was why she loved him, not romantically obviously, but she did think of him as a sort of brother figure. That was one of the reasons this was so hard to get over, she had gotten so used to him being there for her, she took it for granted, and now he was gone.

She just hoped, wherever he was, he could forgive her.

* * *

Returning to Karakura town, it had been four hours since Matt and Nathan departed from the Kurosaki Clinic. They only found one Hollow in the entire city, and it was pretty weak. Matt had to hand it to Ichigo, when it came to cleaning out Hollows, he was a janitor from hell. They quickly decided that searching for another Hollow was a wild goose chase at best, so instead, they decided to search for Urahara Shoten. It would help if they knew where the hell they were going.

"Come on Nathan, you're the one who said Urahara used to be a Soul Reaper, how come you can't find him!" complained Matt.

"Oh okay, you want to try you little wanker!" he shot back.

"Just shut up and keep trying."

It felt like they'd been searching all day, when in reality it had been about a half an hour. All the buildings looked pretty much the same to Matt, but Nathan was apparently able to tell the differences, and it helped that he could read Japanese. He was absentmindedly jumping from rooftop to rooftop, knowing full-well that Nathan was utterly lost. At least that's what he thought, because when Nathan stopped and Matt kept going, he knocked the both of them off the roof of a small office building and into a dirty alley.

"What the hell was that?" yelled out Nathan.

"My bad, sorry."

Nathan pushed Matt off of him and began dusting off his robe, grumbling about clumsy Americans.

"Why did you stop?" asked Matt.

"Look over there," he said pointing to a small shop with a wooden sign over it that meant absolutely nothing to Matt.

"And that is...?"

"That's the place we're looking for, Urahara Shoten!"

"Oh...cool," he said, feeling a little like an idiot.

After helping the British Soul Reaper up, the two of them headed to the small shop. It was pretty simple compared to the rest of the town, a traditional Japanese structure with cloth and wooden walls and sliding doors. On the deck layed a red headed kid who looked like he could be a younger version of Nathan if his hair were a bit darker. He looked like he was sleeping, as his eyes were closed and he was leaning against the wall. He had a simple white T-shirt on and some cheap jeans.

Next to him was a girl who's black hair rivaled his own in darkness. She had it up in one giant pigtail in the back of her head and two loose strads straying down her face that seemed to frame her eyes. She to wore a white T-shirt, but hers had the shops name written on it, she also wore a light blue skirt that reached to just below her knees. She was the first to take notice of their arrival and stopped to greet them.

"Hello, welcome to Urahara Shoten, can I help you," the girl said in an _extremely_ soft voice. Seriously, Matt had to strain himself to hear her at his distance.

"Yeah, we're looking for a Kisuke Urahara, he wouldn't happen to be in would he?" asked Matt.

"Sorry, but old man Urahara isn't interested in talking to Soul Reapers," said the redhead harshly.

"Well I'm technically not a Soul Reaper, I just look like one," replied Matt.

"It's true," threw in Nathan.

"Wow, I could feel the commitment," siad Matt sarcastically.

The Brit just shrugged, "Hey, I try."

"Look, I don't care who you think you are or what you look like, you can't come in!" yelled back the boy.

"This is discrimination, it's illegal!" yelled back Matt.

"It's not discrimination, we just don't like Soul Reapers in our shop, in fact, we just plain don't like em'!"

"That's discrimination!" yelled Matt again.

"What the hell is all this damn racket about! Jesus Christ, a guy can't get a good nap in for the fucking world!" shouted a new voice who came storming out of the shop.

He was tall, taller than either Matt or Nathan. He looked utterly pissed, had crazy blue hair and what looked like a piece of jawbone on the right side of his face. He had jeans as well, and a button up shirt that he neglected to actually button, revealing a nasty scar running up his chest and stomach. He had just as crazy eyes, with what looked like mascara or something of the sort around them, which caused Matt to make the stupid mistake of asking the following question.

"Dude, is that make-up on your eyes?" he asked with a laugh.

The man picked him up by his collar and held him high off the ground.

"You wanna repeat that punk?"

Matt already knew he had one foot in his grave, so why not just go all the way.

"Well I'm just saying that if you're gonna wear mascara, you might as well try and find some matching lipstick, maybe go to a nice salon and get your nails done."

Approximately three seconds later, Matt was punched so high into the air, he waved as a Boeing 747 went by. When he finally landed again, Nathan had to support him until he regained feeling in his legs.

"Look, Ichigo Kurosaki told us to come here, he's going to train the guy you just slugged into orbit," explained Nathan.

"Kurosaki's taken an interest in this punk, huh? Well, I can't say I agree with his choice in students, if I were going to teach someone, I'd get someone who wasn't such a pussy."

Everyone was slowly sliding into the shop while Matt was continuing his verbal warfare with the blue haired man.

* * *

It was finally five o'clock, and Ichigo was walking over to Urahara Shoten to meet up with Matt, his new... 'apprentice' you could call him. He came around the corner and was greeted by the familiar backstreet that led to the small shop. The weird thing was, heard an awful lot of yelling coming from the store.

"I don't care what you say, I think my hair looks cool!" shouted a voice he recognized as Grimmjows.

"What do you mean 'cool', it's fucking blue! Why don't you just dye your skin purple while you're at it!" shouted another.

Ichigo peeked around the last corner to see what was going on. There he saw Grimmjow and Matt literally screaming in each others faces. Both of them grasping each others collars and shouting random arguments and curses at each other. That's when it dawned on him; Matt wasn't just brave, he was incredibly stubborn. He'd never seen anyone argue with Grimmjow like that without losing most of their teeth; for him not to have been pumbled to a pulp already, he must have impressed the arrancar at some point. He didn't notice however, that Matt was bleeding from the mouth and forehead, indicating that he had been hit a few times already.

"If you don't shut your goddamn mouth, _your_ skin's gonna be blood red!"

"You said that two hour's ago and didn't do shit!" yelled Matt.

"Yeah, well this time I'll-"

"That's enough Grimmjow, I don't need you punching out the kid," intervened Ichigo.

They both looked over at the orange haired Soul Reaper, like they were both surprised he showed up at all.

"It's about time Kurosaki! I've had to deal with your piece-o-shit student for four hours!"

"...You've been arguing for four hours? About what?"

"We...don't honestly know," said Matt, scratching the back of his head.

He pinched the bridge between his eyes and sighed.

'_He's really gonna be a handful._'

* * *

**Chapter 3 is done, WOO HOO! Not much happened this chapter, but next chapter is the beginning of Matts training. I really liked the verbal war between Matt and Grimmjow; those two are gonna kill each other, I swear.** **I'm loving the reviews and favorites you guys are throwing my way, keep it up please!**

**In other words, keep reviewing!**


	4. Chapter 4: Bring Heavens Wrath

Guardian Angel

Chapter 4

Bring Heavens Wrath

**Disclaimer: **I still don't own Bleach.

Okay, this is a very important chapter, we finally get to see Matt's Shikai! Also, there's the fact that he takes on Ichigo. (Yes I know it seems one sided, but just wait, there's a trick up Matt's sleeve he doesn't even know is there.) Let's get it on!

Also, I must once again send my thanks to Human. Vizard and HistugayaToshiro96! You two are reviewing machines, you have completely astounded me! People don't come across readers like you everyday, I'm lucky to have you! I owe you both big time!

* * *

Matt walked into the shop behind Ichigo, and Grimmjow behind him. They entered the sitting room where Kisuke was laxly sitting with his signature fan and striped hat. Ichigo knocked on the wall as he stepped in.

"Ah Ichigo, good to see you again, how's college treating you?" he said, sliding his fan closed.

"Fine enough; look, I need to use your basement for a while."

He reached over onto the floor and opened a secret door with a ladder leading down to the dark depths below.

"May I ask what exactly you'll be doing down there?"

"Giving this kid here some pointers on being a Soul Reaper, he's new."

Kisuke laughed a little and continued playing with his fan.

"Finally teaching instead of learning eh? I can't say that I'm not a little proud."

Ichigo groaned and tried to ignore his laughs as he jumped down the door. Matt hesitantly followed, sliding down the ladder. On the other end of the threshold, he saw a massive desert. Ichigo was already waiting for him down a little ways away. After Matt landed, he ran over to his 'teacher'.

"Alright, I won't actually be teaching you anything today, I just want to get a feel for what I'm working with," he said as he pulled out his Deputy badge.

His body fell to the floor and his Soul Reaper form leaped forward. He moved his body over out of the way, and then got ready to fight.

"I think I should warn you, this training is dangerous, I can't seriously guarantee your safety. There's a good chance you might not survive," he explained.

He shrugged. "Meh, I've died once, it wasn't that bad."

Ichigo chuckled to himself, then let loose Zangetsu. At the sight of the massive cleaver, Matt's eyes grew wide and felt his heart drop down to his gut. How in hell was he supposed to block that monstrosity? Despite his fear, he drew his claymore and held it at the ready, preparing his muscles for the massive weapon.

"Ready?" he asked.

Matt gulped and nodded.

"Alright then, you have the first move. Remember, come at me to kill, because that's what I'll be doing," he warned.

He gathered up all his courage and sprinted forward. Ichigo took note of his speed, it seemed above average for a Soul Reaper without Shikai. Pushing that aside, he brought up Zangetsu and easily deflected Matt's first attack. He quickly recovered however, and came back again for another shot. Again, Ichigo barely had to try to block the strike. Matt backed off, then charged forward again, twirling his sword elegantly as he moved. Ichigo ducked under the slash, and punched Matt hard in the stomach, causing him to cough up blood as he was blown back into a nearby rock.

He was still able to recover quickly and was already dashing back towards Ichigo even as he was lifting Zangetsu again. Matt tried a new tactic, and jumped up to attack from the air. His blade clanged against Ichigo's and a simple reiatsu pulse was all it took to blast Matt into the air. Before Matt had a chance to gain his barrings, Ichigo used shunpo to appeared above him and delivered a hard kick to his face.

Matt staggered up through the plume of sand, frantically searching for his opponent. He heard him coming before he saw him, and brought up his claymore as he heard a high pitched whistle moving through the air. The force of the attack felt like it had broken Matt's hands, and he was forced stumbling back. He recieved a hard roundhouse kick to the cheek before he could regain his balance, and was send tumbling back further. Even as he was getting up, he felt Zangetsu slice through his skin, leaving a deep gash on his left shouler blade. He grunted in pain, but was still able to get up and block the next onslaught of attacks.

Ichigo was becoming increasingly harder to dodge and deflect, and Matt resorted to leaping back at full speed to avoid his cleaver. He leaped back again, thinking he was finally out of his teachers reach, until he saw his sword glowing with a bright blue light, and a large crescent energy wave followed. The thing hit dead on, and Matt could feel it burning away his shirt and skin while he was sent hurdling into a mountain sized rock, causing it to collapse on itself and him.

Matt was able to free himself from his rubble prison within a minute or so, and watched as Ichigo was taking his time walking over to the collapsed rock.

"I've gotta hand it to you, you're doing better than I did when I first started! Old man Urahara had my Zanpakuto down to its hilt within a minute, yours is still intact!"

He looked down, and it was. Though chipped a little on the blade and a few cracks here and there, it was still in fighting order for the most part.

"I'll have to fix that!" said Ichigo.

Before Matt could even think about what he said, Ichigo was in front of him with Zengetsu raised. Matt instinctively brought his claymore up to block, but apparently that didn't work, because Zangetsu sliced right through the blade and bit through his other shoulder. Matt jumped over Ichigo in an attempt to escape, but it was no good. He just used shunpo again and sliced off another two big chunks of his blade, and gave him two new wounds on his chest.

Matt landed on his back, bleeding and practically defenseless. Still he got up again, holding nothing but his hilt, guard, and the stub of his blade with the triquetra on it. He re-entered his fighting stance, even through he had nothing to cut with, and stood firm between ragged and strained breaths.

'_Damn it, what is it with my zanpakuto? Why does it seem so weak compared to his and Nathans? It can't just be that he has Shikai can it?'_

**'Fool, you can't do anything without someone holding your hand, can you?' **Said a voice from in his head.

'_Huh? Who are you?'_

**'Your zanpakuto spirit you know-nothing mortal!' **Shouted the voice.

'_Well where are you?_'

The spirit sighed heavily. Suddenly everything around him disintegrated like sand and it was replaced by a plain white void with a strange mist covering the floor. In front of him was the only structure in sight, a small church. He pushed open the doors and looked around. The floor was made of a dark wood, along with nearly twenty rows of pews, and a tall ceiling. At the other end of the building, there was a white marble alter, and behind it a large golden cross that reached to the ceiling.

What intrigued him most though, was the person sitting in the front left pew. He walked down the isle, the candle light giving the building an almost ethereal glow. The man sat with both his hands clasped together, his eyes closed, and his white hair waving gently in the bare worlds winds. He was wearing an all white robe, and next to him lay Matt's claymore.

"Hey, what're doing with my sword?" he demanded.

No answer.

"Hey I'm talking to you man!" he yelled.

"Don't you know it's inappropriate to interrupt someone when they're praying," he said calmly but sternly.

"Oh...sorry."

The man stood and grabbed the claymore, holding it's long sliver colored blade in his hands.

"This is not your blade," he said even more sternly.

"Well last time I checked I was the one wielding it."

The man laughed, then suddenly stopped and put the blade to Matt's neck.

"You call that mad flailing of your arms 'wielding'? This blade has seen countless battles, slain beings beyond your comprehension well before the time when your universe was ever formed and your race took its first breaths," he said, his eyes seemingly piercing his soul.

"All the more reason I'd like it back."

His eyes flared and Matt was suddenly pinned against the ceiling by his neck; the man had sprung wings out of no where. They were like ones you saw one eagles, only much larger and perfectly bleach white, just like his robe and hair. His grip was like a vice, his fingers breaking the skin.

"Your arrogance astounds me child. You have absolutely no respect for this weapon at all, and by extension, you have none for me. Why should I lend you power when you obviously would show no gratitude at all?"

"Because if I die you do to," he croaked.

"Incorrect, if you were to die, something that is bound to happen soon, I would only be sent home."

"Y-your and angel aren't you."

"Yes. My name...is Gabriel."

Matt's eyes widened. "G-gabriel? The arc angel Gabriel?"

"The same."

Matt wasn't sure which part was more amazing, the fact that he was talking to the arc angel Gabriel, or the fact that he was his zanpakuto spirit. Now he knew the time for sarcasm and jokes was over, this was one guy he definitely didn't want to screw with.

"Alright Gabriel, you're an angel and my zanpakuto spirit, that means you've been with me since the day I died. If you've been with me for that long, then you know why I need your help just as much as I need Ichigo's, if not more," reasoned Matt.

"Yes, your friend Holly, you wish to protect her."

"Exactly, you better than anyone would know the desire to protect is a strong force. You also know _me_, and that even though I might not understand everything, and might not ever understand, at least I'm doing this for the right reasons, and trying to learn. If you want me to be a better host and a better fighter, then teach me!"

He sighed and loosened his grip, lowering them both back down the the ground. He folded his wings onto his back.

"That was exactly the answer I was hoping for," he said as he handed the claymore back to Matt.

"Now...go forth and make this blade proud."

Matt looked around and saw the world around him begin disintegrating again, being replaced by the desert of Urahara's basement.

"Thanks Gabriel," he said before everything faded back.

As he looked around, he saw Ichigo charging forward with Zangetsu raised. He leaped into the air, and swung down hard on Matt. Like lightning, Matt's free hand shot up and stopped Zangetsu in mid-swing. As his grip increased in intensity, the metal of the cleaver began to crumble and crack. At the same time, he was now emitting ridiculously massive amounts of spiritual pressure, enough to make Ichigo's knees weak.

In the torrent of sand and dust being shot into the air, and the sound of metal shattering into pieces, Ichigo heard one phrase uttered from Matt.

"Bring Heavens Wrath...Gabriel."

Suddenly, Matt was engulfed in a torrent of fire. It was bright, it was powerful, and it was expanding. Ichigo was hurtled back by the initial blast and burst through three huge rocks before slamming to the ground. He felt dizzy as he sat up, he felt his forehead, it was bleeding. Zangetsu had slammed into his head when he was thrown back by Matt. Speaking of Zangetsu, the blade was in ruins, Matt had been able to shatter the massive cleaver with one bare hand.

Also speaking Matt, he had just appeared in front of Ichigo, with some big apparel changes. For one, his Soul Reaper robe was now completely white, and he was radiating with a glowing orange-red aura. What really caught Ichigo's eye though, was his zanpakuto. The claymore was completely repaired, and was now on fire. Literally, it was covered by flames, and the core of the blade was glowing brighter than a sun. It was super-heating the surrounding air, and the sand below the blade was melting into molten glass.

Ichigo flipped backwards and stood up, taking up the shattered Zangetsu. There was no other choice, with the amount of spiritual pressure he was putting out, Shikai wouldn't cut it anymore.

"This is gonna get fun! Bankai!" Ichigo shouted.

It was his turn to be engulfed by his own black colored spiritual energy. He felt his large cleaver disintegrate and be replaced by his slim black katana. He swiped the blade to his side to blow away all the sand, only to see Matt and his flaming claymore jetting towards him. Ichigo swung Zangetsu at the same time as Matt's claymore, crashing their blades into each other. As their swords scraped against each other and their reiatsu pushed the others away, they both caused a spiritual pressure overload, sending out a shock-wave that blew away and crushing everything within a mile radius.

The two went into a massive flurry of shunpo, then strike, shunpo, then strike. Their blows shot spiritual pressure in every direction, kicking up sand and causing huge shock-waves. Matt jumped back and shouted out, "**Sanctus Incendia**!" He swiped down his claymore and the flames on his sword leaped off the blade and came down in a similar crescent shaped attack as his getsuga tenshou, but made of pure fire.

He used a shunpo and stood safely in the air, watching as the flames eat up the sand and create a streak of glass across the sandy crater. He was too busy watching the attack to realize Matt himself had used his own shunpo until he was directly in front of Ichigo. He brought down his claymore and sliced down from his left shoulder to his waist, instantly cauterizing the wound. At the same time, Ichigo swung Zangetsu upward and sliced Matt's stomach all the way up to his lower neck.

Matt flew down a bit to gain distance, neglecting the fact that Zangetsu was now glowing with a black and red light. He looked up, just as he was swinging down. "**Getsuga Tenshou!**" he shouted.

The black crescent attack came down on Matt as he raised his claymore. The energy collided with the flaming blade and created a massive fusion of spiritual pressures. The resulting explosion -which hit Matt point blank in the face- darkened the entire desert in a black and orange discharge, turning everything below that wasn't sand, into sand. Matt was blown into the ground.

He was still conscious, but extremely weak. Before he could even support himself with his elbow, Ichigo came down from the sky and landed on Matts gut, stabbing Zangetsu in the sand only a few centimeters from his head. Matt groaned and hit the sand with his fist; he lost, and then he lost consciousness.

* * *

Almost completely across the world in Seattle, Holly woke up with a start. She had had another crazy dream, and Matt had been in it.

In it, she was watching from a third person view. She was in a huge desert that didn't look like it had anything in it until she saw Matt standing a little ways away from her. He looked horrible, he was bleeding from gashes on his shoulders and chest, and he was holding a broken sword. Farther away, a man with a huge curved blade and the same strange black robe that Matt was wearing was charging him with the sword raised high.

As he closed in she screamed out his name but he didn't move, then she tried to take the blow for him by jumping if front of the man, but he leaped into the air. She watched in horror as he brought down the sword on her best friend. Just when she though he was going to die, he raised his left hand faster than she'd ever seen before. In one fell swoop, he crushed the massive slab of metal with one hand.

The next instant he was engulfed in a huge flurry of flames, and the man was thrown into the distance. She watched him as he chased after him with unbelievable speed. Almost immediately after, a huge shock-wave rocked the ground and sent her tumbling down. She got up as fast as she could, and could hear metal slamming into metal. She slid down the crater and saw Matt and the other man appearing and disappearing, all the while quickly and elegantly twirling and clashing their blades. As she looked on, she couldn't help but notice how Matt changed.

He was wearing a pure white robe and his sword was on fire. Give him a pair of wings and he'd look just like an angel, compared to the other man who was in all black with a pure black katana. It was like watching a demon and an angel fight each other. She also couldn't help but notice how amazing Matt was doing; the way he swung and spun his sword, the way he flipped in the air and flawlessly strung his attacks together, he was like a completely different person.

He unleashed a new attack that shot out a huge wave of fire and burned away the sand in its way. He suddenly disappeared again and attacked the man in the air, slicing his shoulder to his abdomen. At the same time he got cut on his stomach up to his neck, and he flew back and down. She saw his opponents sword started to glow black and red, and the next thing she knew, he sent a black wave at him.

She cried out his name again as he blocked the attack with his sword, and was then blown down to the ground below. She screamed as the man in black came down on him with his sword, and before she could see what happened, she woke up.

So here she was, breathing with ragged and raspy breaths in the early morning. Her forehead was covered in a cold sweat, and she felt a few tears roll down her face.

'_I know I didn't imagine that, I know it. It was too real.'_

She started rocking herself back and forth, trying to calm herself and think about what she had seen. It was too real for her to have imagined it, something bad was happening to Matt. Whatever had really happened to him, he was in trouble, and she had to find out what.

But how?

* * *

Ichigo stood over Matt's unconscious body. He was standing there wondering just what the hell he was; his Shikai compared to his sealed sword was remarkable. His initial Shikai release had emitted the same amount of pressure as when Ichigo had first unlocked his Bankai in the Soul Society. If this was the extent of his power as an _untrained _Soul Reaper, he shuttered to think what he'd be like when he finally mastered Bankai. He doubted even he'd be able to beat him when that happened.

The thought of him with a hollow mask scared the shit out of him, thank god he'd never have one. He bent over and picked up the limp form, throwing him over his shoulder and carrying him out of the basement.

* * *

**I'm Done! I think this chapter came out pretty well, I hope the fight scene was to your liking. Also, Ichigo won't be the only one teaching Matt in the story. Five years still hasn't changed the fact that Ichigo sucks at Kido, and we have an arrancar in the house, so who better to teach Matt about hollows than a former hollow! I want to include as many character as possible.**

**As always, keep the reviews coming!**


	5. Chapter 5: Theories and Sexual Deviancy

Guardian Angel

Chapter 5

Theories and Sexual Deviancy

**Disclaimer: **I seriously don't own Bleach

Okay guys, chapter 5 is here! We're getting into Matt's training a bit, and we also have some more of that sarcastic humor you all know and love.

I'm glad to welcome Kuroi Amaya to the reviewing fold. Thank you for the read, though science class may not be the best place for it...just sayin'. Either way, it's appreciated.

Let's get this party started!

* * *

Over the next few days after the practice match between Ichigo and Matt, the two of them trained near non-stop. Ichigo explained the situation to his father and he graciously allowed Matt to stay with them. Nathan refused the offer, and instead stayed at the shop.

Speaking of the shop, over the last few days, the Urahara Shoten had been quite a noisy place. On an hourly basis, Ichigo would be tutoring Matt in zanjutsu and reiatsu control. Making him run drills, and having him practice with his new found Shikai abilities. He took notice of how fast he was devouring the training; only a week and he could already fight on par with most Lieutenants, much to the chagrin of Nathan.

Another thing he noticed was that Matt's spiritual pressure never spiked again the way it had when he had first released his Shikai. It was still impressive for someone with his inexperience, but he had no doubt if they fought again, Zangetsu would be able to handle him, it wouldn't be a borderline draw like it had been. Still, Ichigo felt a swell of pride when he saw how fast he was coming along; he reminded him of himself when he was still new.

His reiatsu control was a major problem though; it wasn't that it was bad, there was just so much damn energy in the kid! Matt was having the same problem Ichigo had had when he was still training. Matt had no problem eating up all the most powerful techniques he was shown, but when it came to the basics like reiatsu control and masking his spiritual pressure, it was like teaching a third grader quantum physics, he just couldn't grasp it. To reiterate, it wasn't that he was bad, there was just too much energy in him, and it was constantly leaking out.

One thing he'd been working on the last three days was developing his ability to sense spiritual pressure, a task that came quiet naturally to him. It seemed that he already had a basic knowledge of how it worked, he said he got a tingle in his body whenever significant spiritual energies were nearby. It was just a matter of developing that 'tingle' into a sixth sense. He did this by having Ururu, Jinto, Nathan, and Tessai hide somewhere in town, and having Matt find them. He'd all but mastered it now.

Which brought them to their newest training session, where Ichigo had a special lesson in store for him. The two of them were both outside the shop in their Soul Reaper forms.

"So what're we doing to today?" he asked eagerly.

"Today, we'll be going on your first real Hollow hunt."

"I tried that a few days ago when I first got here, I think you killed all of them," he said, scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

"Don't worry, that's what this is for," he said, tossing a small brown bag up and down in his hand.

"What's that?"

"This is Hollow bait, I got it from a Quincy friend of mine; he lives out of town now, but we keep in touch."

Matt eyed the bag suspiciously, wondering what kind of bait could possibly attract a Hollow.

"Now, I'm going to release enough bait to attract five Hollows; your goal is to destroy all five of them in under half an hour."

"Piece of cake!"

Ichigo smirked, then used shunpo and was gone. Thanks to his training, Matt still knew where he was, and could sense him leaving the first piece of bait in the park. He used shunpo as well and began speeding atop the roofs toward the park. He'd become acquainted with the town pretty well, the sensing exercises took him all over the place.

He jumped from building to building until he finally made it to the park. It didn't look too much different from the one in Seattle, it was a mostly just cobblestone walkways and trees, with a small playground for the kids. Unfortunately for him, unlike his park back home, it seemed the kids here actually played in their park. That was gonna make things complicated, taking out a Hollow was no problem, but doing it while there were bystanders around was another story.

Either way, he leaped down into the grassy area and searched for his first target. He reached out and sensed that it was close by and he fingered Gabriels hilt. That's when he heard the roar...from behind him. He turned around mid-roar and caught a whiff of it's breath, it smelled like a dead badger bathed in rotten liver. When he finally quieted down, Matt pulled out a small green box and popped open the lid.

"Dude, take a tic-tac."

The Hollow raised its fists high; Matt just stood there and popped one of the small orbs in his mouth. With a quick shunpo, he easily dodged the simple attack, and reappeared a few feet back.

"I'll take that as a no," he said, then spat the tic-tac out of his mouth like a bullet and shot the Hollow's mask. The small mint hit the creatures mask with such velocity that it created a small chink, and sent the Hollow off balance long enough for Matt to shunpo onto its head.

"One down," he said as he stabbed the mask with Gabriel, "four to go."

He jumped down as the Hollow disintegrated and sheathed his zanpakuto.

* * *

All the way back in Seattle, Holly had been spending the last two hours of her evening sitting in front of Matt's grave. It had been almost a week now with no evidence to suggest it was a murder, so the police classified it as a 'cold case', and Matt had been given a proper funeral yesterday. She wasn't sure what she was doing there, what she was expecting, she just felt like she needed to be there. She studied his gravestone for the thousandth time:

_Matt Anderson_

_Son, Student, Friend_

_1993-2008_

R.I.P

She sighed and put her head in her hands and rubbed her forehead. What was she doing here, for some reason she couldn't just except that he was gone. The dreams were strange, yes, but hardly evidence. She raised her head when she heard footsteps from behind her; Brandon was coming to get her...again. He walked up and leaned his shoulder againt a nearby tree.

"Hey, done yet?" he asked.

"I don't know...I'm not sure of a lot of things right now."

He sighed. "Look, I know he was your friend, but you've got to accept the simple fact that he's dead. Now come on."

"I don't think I want to leave just yet, just give me a few more minutes."

He sighed again, it almost sounded like a growl.

"Holly, this is the third day straight you've come here and done nothing but just sit there. Now, I'm leaving, with or without you."

Holly whipped her head over her shoulder; she couldn't believe how insensitive he was being.

"Alright, first off Brandon, he wasn't just my friend, he was my best friend since I moved here! Second, it hasn't even been a _week_ since he was killed, so you'll excuse me if I'm still grieving just a little! This isn't something I can just magically get over, it's gonna take time, and I thought you would've had the patience to help be deal with it! I guess I was wrong."

She got up and stormed off down the cemetery road, leaving a shocked and confused Brandon in the distance.

* * *

Matt sheathed his zanpakuto once again, the exercise had been going on for twenty minutes now and he was on his last Hollow. He had just killed his fourth on the roof of Karakura high, and now he was leaping his way to the river. The way he figured, it would only take about a minute to get there and another minute or two to kill the Hollow, which left him with a minimum of seven minutes to spare; not bad timing.

He jumped across a street and saw the running water of the river. He looked around...no Hollow. Now that didn't make any sense, from what he was sensing, he was right on top of the thing. He looked up; nothing in the air either. What the hell was going on?

He took a step forward and suddenly the ground under him crumbled away, and the Hollow appeared. It made a bite for his legs, but he used its outer teeth as a springboard and jumped into the air; the Hollow followed. Matt slid to the ground and drew Gabriel, the Hollow still lunging at him with its mouth wide open.

It swiped at him with one of its giant fists, but Matt jumped onto it, the leaped again, slamming his foot into the creatures head, blowing it into the water. He walked up to the edge of the shore and stood, waiting. Once it jumped out of the water again, he'd be ready. After waiting for almost a minute though, he wasn't sure what had happened to the Hollow. There was no way a simple kick could have done it in, so where was it.

Then he felt a familiar sinking feeling and looked down. By the time he realized that the ground had given way, he was in the water and being pinned to the floor by the Hollow. The bastard suckered him into a trap!

The Hollow had him by the arms and was holding him at the floor of the river. As a Soul Reaper he didn't _need _to breath unless extremely tired, but the water still had its disadvantages. For one, it was impossible for him to move very fast down there, and the Hollow seemed to be able to move quicker.

The one thing the Hollow didn't know was that Matt didn't need his limbs to attack. He called upon a new trick he developed without Ichigo knowing, a little surprise for him the next time they fought. He forced reiatsu into his stomach and up his throat until it reached his mouth. Then he literally _vomited_ flames out his mouth and into the face of the Hollow, as well as evaporating a good portion of the lake. The flames pushed the Hollow back onto land and Matt followed.

He was soaked, but it didn't really matter, because the hollow was rolling around on the ground screaming and holding its mask. Matt was done with this guy, and wasted no time jumping onto it and quickly slashing away at its mask and torso until it was completely gone.

He plopped himself onto the ground once the threat was gone, and began fanning his mouth. It felt like he just stomached a dozen peppers, and it burned. It wasn't as bad as when he tried it the fist time, he had a sore throat for the entire day afterwords, but now it was just some momentary pain that lasted a few minutes.

"Woo, finally done," he sighed.

"And with six minutes to spare, not too shabby," said Ichigo from behind.

"Just how long have you been watching?"

"I got here at the point where you took a nosedive into the water."

"Yeah...not one of my better moments," Said Matt as he hopped up again and dusted off his robes.

"Well it doesn't really matter, you pass either way. Good job."

"Cool, so what's next?"

"We head back to the shop, and you start your workout drills."

"Ah, so the boring stuff," he said as he passed the elder Soul Reaper.

"Yeah...the boring stuff."

* * *

When the two got back to the shop, Matt went out back to do his exercise sets while Ichigo sat down with Kisuke in the sitting room. There were a few questions that the orange haired Soul Reaper needed answers to.

"So what is it that you need to know Ichigo," said the blond, absentmindedly playing with his fan.

"Let me start by telling you this, Matt isn't normal, even for a Soul Reaper."

"Yes, I did notice that strange phenomenon during your practice match. The aura that you saw."

"Yeah, it brought his reiatsu up to my level, and I was using Bankai," he said, feeling where the burned gash used to be.

"Well, to answer your question Ichigo, I have no definite idea, but I do have a theory."

"Lay it on me."

"As you know, the human brain has buffers in it that control just how much strength to give to the muscles, thus limiting their total strength. The same can be said for spiritual energy, there are objects, things I like to call Soul Buffers, that control and channel reiatsu, like a dam in a river," he explained.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, you Ichigo, have shown the ability to weaken those barriers to draw on large amounts of reiatsu at one time. Matt however, under the influence of extreme emotion, can break down his Soul Buffers completely, releasing all his reiatsu at one time, giving even his Shikai state a fighting chance against your Bankai form or Grimmjow."

"Normally this would be a dangerous and even fatal condition, but Matt has even more raw reiatsu that you, so he can use this ability to his advantage as he so clearly demonstrated. The scary thing is; if I'm right about this, when he reaches his bankai state and masters it, he may, at his fullest, be just as powerful as Captain-General Yamamoto."

"Th-that would mean he would..."

"...be near unstoppable, yes. So Ichigo, before you decide to take him any further, you need to ask yourself...do you really want someone who has the power to deal the Soul Society a crippling blow running around?"

Ichigo sighed and ran a hand through his hair. How was he supposed to make this kind of decision, take a gamble and help the kid out, or play it safe and kick him out?

"He wouldn't do something like that," said a new voice.

Ichigo turned his head and saw Nathan standing in the doorway.

"What makes you say that?" he asked.

"Matt's a kid and a dedicated friend, he doesn't want power or positions, he's only shooting for Deputy so he can stay with his friend, that's all he wants. I used to know people like him, he'd throw away all the power he's gotten over this week if it meant he could save Holly."

"That's true, and people used to afraid of me for the same reason, they thought I'd grow too powerful. No, I don't think Matt's the kind of person to abuse power like that, I can't see him as another Aizen," agreed Ichigo.

Kisuke snapped his fan shut and sighed.

"Alright Ichigo, if you trust him that much then I have no objections."

"Good, now if you'll excuse me, I better see if he's actually doing his sets."

* * *

In the back of the shop, Matt was actually doing his sets. He was currently doing push-ups...vertically...with one hand...and balancing Tessai on his feet. The man was even heavier than he looked, and he looked pretty damn heavy to begin with. He was glad he changed into his workout clothes, which consisted of some jeans and a spare undershirt, both of which were already covered in sweat.

"Damn it, Kurosaki's a slave driver," he said between push-ups.

"Don't worry, this is all for the betterment of your abilities, if you don't have adequate physical strength, all of your other abilities won't mean much," said Tessai from atop his feet.

"SWITCH!" he bellowed.

Matt pushed up with his right arm, and landed again on his left. He shook a little at first, but quickly regained his balance.

"I've got no problems with training, it's actually pretty cool, I just wish this part wasn't so boring. I mean, even when I was human I could do push-ups, it's nothing special."

"Patience is a virtue my young friend, you would do well to remember that."

_**"You should listen to the man," **_came Gabriel's voice.

_"Oh shut it, I don't need you poking your way into my head while I'm training."_

_**"Alright fine, **_**don't **_**take advice of a being who's over ten billion years old."**_

_"Yeah, ten billion years and I bet you haven't had one date," _Matt shot back.

_**"I'm an angel, we have no need for companionship like humans and Soul Reapers."**_

_"That's a big, NO."_

_**"Focus on your training!"**_

_"Oh come on, what's that matter? Oh wait, I got it; you're lacking in the...wingspan department, if you catch my drift."_

_**"You're disgusting."**_

_"Hey, you chose me, you brought this on yourself," he stated victoriously._

_**"You're right, I shouldn't come into your head anymore...ever."**_

_"I'm glad we had this talk."_

**

* * *

The chapter is over! This one didn't take that long; I would've had it up earlier, but I started it at 9 p.m last night, and I try to go to bed around eleven, otherwise I end up falling asleep during class, and Web Design is not a class you want to sleep during.**

**I'll try to update again soon, probably tomorrow or the day after that at the latest.** **Oh, and before I forget, I've got a poll on my profile now that I'd like all my faithful readers to vote in. It is of concern to me.**

**Later guys, keep on reviewing!**


	6. Chapter 6: Of Kido and Sandwich's

Guardian Angel

Chapter 6

**Of Kido and Sandwich's  
**

**Disclaimer: **Can we just put 'I don't own Bleach' on a memo titled "Shit we already know."

Okay guys, she's here! Rukai makes her first, but certainly not her last appearance in the story! She'll be overseeing Matt's Kido instructions (she's gotten stronger over the last five years), and he'll be just a bit more adept in that department than Ichigo.

Once again, Human. Vizard and Kuroi Amaya have graciously reviewed this story. You know, I feel obligated to reward you two, and HistugayaToshiro96, for your dedicated reviewing and support. I know that Human. Vizard and HitsugayaToshiro96 (obviously) have a thing for the captain of the tenth division, so I've already decided that Matt will eventually have a showdown with the silver haired ice-man. (It actually makes sense considering he uses ice and Matt uses fire.) However Kurio, if there's any request you wish to throw my way, I'm all ears.

For now though, let's start up the show!

* * *

Two days after the Hollow exercise, Matt was sleeping soundly in his bed, which was in Ichigo's closet. He'd been up late the last night perfecting some new stances Ichigo had taught him, and Grimmjow –reluctantly- came over and was helped him with Hollow anatomy. All in all, he'd gotten to bed around three in the morning.

Anyway, he was sleeping like a rock in his bed, unaware that he'd have a new teacher today. See, the day before Ichigo thought it would be a good idea to teach Matt Kido, but seeing as Ichigo never bothered to actually learn Kido himself, he'd need a little help. That's where his old raven haired friend came in. Speaking of which, she was just now about to wake Matt in her own personal style.

She slid open the door to the closet, spotting her jet-black haired target. She crouched down a bit and leveled her palms, the whispered, "Way of Destruction number one: Thrust." A second later, a small but powerful pulse left the girls hands and hit Matt in the back, smacking his head into the wall. He immediately jumped up holding his head.

"Ow, damn it! What's the big idea Ichi-, hey, you're not Ichigo."

Instead of his normal orange haired instructor of the Soul Reaper arts, he was staring at a raven haired girl a full head shorter than him, she was wearing a Soul Reaper robe and had quite an elegant zanpakuto strapped to her waist. She had a large strand of hair hanging in her face, and deep violet, nearly black eyes.

"What's up shorty?" he greeted.

The girl grew a scowl on her face that reminded him of Ichigo, and wondered if the two were related up until the point where her foot was shoved into his face. She kicked _way_ harder than Ichigo. When she put her foot back down, Matt was holding onto a now bloody nose.

"What the hell was that for!?" he shouted.

"Never make fun of my size and we'll get along fine, now come on, we've got work to do."

"What work?" he demanded.

"You have Kido training today, now come, we're heading to the shop," she explained.

Matt jumped out of his gigai and adjusted Gabriel's strap. He saw that Ichigo was still asleep in his bed, lucky bastard. What a lazy guy, calling in his girlfriend to do his job. He jumped over Ichigo and out of his rooms window, out onto the streets below. The girl was waiting for him near the front door, and once he was down, they leaped onto a nearby rooftop and began making their way to the shop.

"So, what's your name anyway?" he asked.

"Rukia Kuchiki, 4th seat of 13th division and an old friend of Ichigo."

"Huh, if your with the 13th then you must know Nathan right?"

She nodded. "Yes, thought to me he's Lieutenant Yester."

He laughed to himself, Nathan had been more of a pal to him than a military officer. The thought of him barking orders to an entire division -especially this loaded pistol- was kind of a funny thought. Though he had to admit, Nathan was a pretty powerful guy; he was a Lieutenant, which obviously counted for something. Besides, Jushiro didn't seem like the kind of guy who'd hand out a rank like that without heavy consideration.

Matt pulled himself away from his thoughts when he landed infront of the shop. Like every morning, Jinto and Ururu were there to greet him. As usual, Jinto was leaving against the wall looking asleep and Ururu was sweeping the deck.

"Hey guys," Matt greeted as he passed through the door.

Jinto gave a grunt and a slight nod, and Ururu smiled and waved before returning to her -or rather Jinto's- chores. They walked through the front room, said hi to Tessai as he carried a crate of wares around the room, and walked into the back. In the sitting room, Nathan and Kisuke were both having a cup of coffee.

Matt walked in first and gave Nathan a high five, "Sup Nathan."

"Oh, hey Rukai, good to see ya," greeted Nathan.

Rukai bowed slightly, "Good morning Lieutenant."

"Oh come on Rukia, you've known me long enough to know I hate that formal crap."

"I know, but it's the rules."

Nathan sighed, "Yeah well, we've technically already broken a dozen of them over the past week or so."

"Speaking of rule breaking, you two better get to training," said Kisuke as he flipped open his basement door.

"Alright!" exclaimed Matt as he jumped straight down.

"Careful with that one Rukai, he's got a division in a half's worth of energy and his temper's about twice that," warned Nathan.

"I'll keep that in mind," she replied as she jumped in after him.

When she reached the bottom and hit the sand of Urahara's basement, Matt was already sitting near her, his claymore on the ground, waiting for her instruction. Rukai too put her zanpakuto down and sat down across from him.

"Alright, we'll start this off with a question; what is Kido?" she asked him.

"Kido is one of the four main Soul Reaper combat forms, they're used to focus magical energy into various attacks that rank 1 to 99. I already read up on this stuff."

"Okay, then we can skip some of the basic lessons and move onto teaching you your first spell. Ichigo explained your situation to me, and due to your large reserves of reiatsu and your limited control over it, we'll start with some stronger spells that won't end up blowing up in your face for pumping too much energy into them," she said.

"We'll start with a destruction spell; they take significantly less control than binding spells and, ironically, won't do as much damage if cast improperly. Now, watch and listen carefully."

She stood and pointed out her right index finger, _"Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bares the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south! _Way of Destruction 31: Shot of Red Fire!_"_

As she yelled this, a large red blast of energy fired from her finger, easily the size of an average human body. It flew off into the distance and collided with a rock, destroying it completely.

"It's easy, just say the incantation, the type and number, and then the title. Now, do you think you can do it?"

Matt grinned. "No prob! I've already got it memorized!"

He leaped up and stuck out his finger and gathered some reiatsu. With a deep exhale, he shouted the incantation,_ "'Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bares the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south!' _Way of Destruction 31: Shot of Red Fire!_"_

Rukai was truly impressed, he did manage to memorize the incantation already. She was even more impressed when the result of his spell was not a blast, but more of a massive red beam that drove its way down the dessert until it exploded in a fiery blast that would have made a nuke blush.

_'Damn, Ichigo hit the jackpot with this one.'_

Once the red glow died down, only a mushroom plume of sand and dust remained in it's wake. Matt stood there, admiring his handy-work and grinning like a kid in a candy shop.

He turned to her and asked, "Next?"

* * *

Over the next three hours, Matt continued to eat up all the Kido lessons Rukai threw at him. She had him try out 'Blue Fire, Crash Down' and 'Abolishing Flames', both of which he quickly learned and was already on the verge of mastering. He was already at the point where he could us 'Shot of Red Fire' without the incantation. He had expended almost all his reiatsu and he was still asking for more, still willing to try the next spell even though he could drop dead after the next casting.

He reminded her of Ichigo if anyone ever did.

"Come on...Rukia...show me a new...spell, these are getting too...easy," he said through ragged and strained breathing.

"Oh no you don't, you're gonna go upstairs, eat something, and take a nap. Keep training like this and you're going to die right where you're standing."

He was know on his knees and supporting himself with one hand, sweat dripping off his face and his sleeves.

"It's like I...always say...I've already died once...and it wasn't so...bad."

'_Yup, _just_ like Ichigo.'_

She grabbed him by the ear and began dragging him to the ladder.

"Ow, that hurts!" he yelled.

"If you'd just listen to me then this sort of thing could be avoided, but no, you've gotta be like every other guy Soul Reaper! Train until you drop and then make everyone else worry about you until they all get ulcers!"

She dropped him in front of the ladder and pointed to the opening in the ceiling.

"Now get your ass up there and rest!"

Matt grumbled but complied, slowly inching his way up the ladder into the sitting room back in the shop. He looked around the room, Nathan and Kisuke were gone, but Grimmjow and Ichigo were both sitting there, fighting over what looked like a sandwich.

"Give it!" yelled Ichigo.

"Screw you, I want it!" he shouted back.

Matt walked past the two of them and tore the sandwich away from the both of them, taking a large bite.

"Hey, give that back!" they both yelled.

"No, you don't deserve it because you had your freakin' girlfriend doing your job all day so far,"he said looking at Ichigo, then turned to Grimmjow, "and I just plain don't like you."

"She is not my girlfriend!" yelled Ichigo.

"Fine, whatever, she's your sex buddy then! Whatever you need tell yourself, I'm not here to judge!" he said back as he went out onto the front deck. He could hear Grimmjow laughing hysterically from the hall before he exited the front room and closed the door.

Matt polished off the sandwich and layed down on the wooden floor, the sun was now high in the sky, around noon most likely. He'd imagine Holly was in bed at the moment, and sleep suddenly didn't sound so bad to him either. He got comfortable, rolled up a little, and soon the steady rhythm of sleep took him.

* * *

When Rukia climbed her was up the ladder as well, Matt had already gone to sleep, and Ichigo and Grimmjow were now fighting for a completely different reason.

"I'm telling you, she's not my gi-" he stopped himself as Rukia entered the room. Ichigo immedeatly went a little red in the face, and Grimmjow was making a vain attempt to hold in his laughter.

"What're you two idiots arguing about now."

"Nothing," the Soul Reaper grunted.

She sat down across from her friend and sighed, "I don't know where you found that kid, but he's the fastest learner I've ever seen."

"Believe it or not I didn't find him, he found me. He just showed up one day and asked for help."

"Well, how very charitable of you."

"Trust me, if you'd been there you'd understand why I accepted the job."

"He reminds you of yourself doesn't he," she said without missing a beat.

"Yeah, a little."

"Hell, even I've gotta admit, the punks got talent. I've seen him training, he might not be as powerful as you or me yet Kurosaki, but he sure as hell's learning," commented Grimmjow.

"What do you think Ichigo?" asked Rukai.

He was silent for a while, then came to a decision "I think, once he's become better at Kido...I'll start up his Bankai training."

"Whoa, you think he's ready for that? I mean sure, he's talented, but Bankai is a big step," warned Rukai.

"I think he's ready, we'll give him a few more days with Kido lessons and to train a bit with his zanjutsu, then we'll start it up," he decided.

"If you think he can do it. Besides, you pointed it out, he's a lot like me, and if there's one thing I know it's that I hate to lose, so I'd bet anything he does to."

"I'm almost scared to see what his Bankai is. I mean, he's powerful enough now; he progressing even faster than you did," said Rukai.

Ichigo grew a proud smile, "Well he is learning from the best."

"Pft, yeah right," scoffed Grimmjow.

"You think you can do better!?"

"I know I can do better, everyone knows I'm stronger!"

"Yeah, and who was it who lost to me in Los Noches, I can't seem to remember!?" shouted back Ichigo.

"You caught me off guard, that's it!"

"It still counts! It just shows you can't pay attention!"

Rukai listened to their constant bickering and pinched the bridge between her eyes.

'_Hard to believe these two are friend as all,' _she thought to herself as she sighed.

* * *

**Okay, not the most exciting chapter, but we're coming up to the point where things start to get good. Matt's training will be finalized in the next chapter or two, then it's off to the Soul Society to convince the captains to grant him Deputy Status. Also, Holly will be increasingly important in the chapters to come as well, who knows, her and Matt might meet up sooner that you guys think. nudge nudge hint hint**

**If you guys like his Shikai (and I know you did), then just wait for his Bankai. Two words: BAD ASS!**

**Also, if anyone was confused by Matt's Soul Buffer Breakdown ability I introduced last chapter, then I'd just like to clear that up really quick. With his buffer in place, and they normally are, Matt and Ichigo are pretty much on the same level** **in terms of strength and speed, but when they break down, he completely surpasses even his vizard form.** ** Just keep in mind Matt's Soul Buffers only breakdown when he's under the influence of extremely strong negative emotions (Ex. sadness, anger, rage)**

**Now that that's out of the way, keep on reviewing my friends!**


	7. Chapter 7: The Final Lesson: Part I

Guardian Angel

Chapter 7

**The Final Lesson: **

**Part I**

**Disclaimer: **I no own Bleach people.

GAH! I HATE SUNDAYS!! I woke up today with a sore throat, a killer migraine and I was nauseous; I STILL had to got to church! This is one of those days where I hate being Catholic. What sucks even more is that this is the first time I've gotten sick in three years. THREE YEARS, that's like a world record or something!

... Anyway, this chapter is cool. This is a two part mini-arc where Matt will finalize his training by achieving Bankai! So the way I figure it, we've got about three or four chapters until Matt has his showdown with Toshiro; I know two readers in particular are looking forward to it. I've already written the actual fight scene, I've just left out the dialog and such because I'm still working on the final details, but overall, that particular chapter is technically already finished.

Oh, and Human. Vizard, if you're reading this (who am I kidding, I know you are.), I hope my advice to you helped. I've checked out your writing, and it's pretty good to begin with. Much better than some of the other work I've seen. There's nothing in there that a little editing can't fix.

Okay, I'm done rambling, onward!

* * *

Five days…another five days of Kido lessons, Zanjutsu training, and workout drills. His zanjutsu, according to Ichigo, was a match for his now. His Kido was going well as too; Rukia was a great teacher and in a matter of days Matt had mastered almost all the Destructive spells save for the most powerful which even she didn't know. As for his physical training, well it had gotten to the point where he could block Zangetsu with his bare hands if he had to, so Matt assumed that was good.

It was about maybe noon and he had stopped, both for some lunch, and because Ichigo apparently had something important to tell him. He was just polishing off the last of some coffee when Ichigo walked into the room, still in his body seeing as he hadn't done any Zanjutsu yet. He sat down across from him at the table with a serious look on his face.

"So what's up?" asked Matt.

"I think you're ready for Bankai," he said bluntly.

Matt sat there for a second, absorbing what he'd said, "Bankai, huh? What would I have to do?"

"Well, you'd have to fight your zanpakuto spirit…and beat him."

Matt was afraid of as much. If he really had to fight Gabriel, he didn't see how he'd ever achieve Bankai, how was he supposed to beat and angel who'd existed before existence? Still, he'd need Bankai in the future; that much was clear. He had to at least try it...for Holly.

"I'll do it," he answered.

"Good, it's going to be noon in about fifteen minutes; that gives us just enough time to set up."

"We're doing this now?"

"The sooner we start, the sooner we finish. Don't you have a friend to protect?" Ichigo goaded as he jumped down the basement hatch.

Matt nodded and jumped straight down the hatch to the shop basement. He had to pull this off; he had to show Gabriel he was worthy. Beating the angel wouldn't be easy; hell, he wasn't even sure if it was possible, but he'd feel even worse if he didn't at least give it a shot. He trusted Gabriel enough to know that he wouldn't pull any punches, not out of resentment, but for the sake of his training.

Matt felt a subtle thud as he landed on the soft sand of the Urahara Shoten basement. Ichigo was walking over to the bottom of a mound of sand toward a human-shaped white cutout looking thing. He picked it up and set it upright, keeping it steady by placing a hand on its 'shoulder'.

"So what's with the cardboard cutout?" asked Matt.

"This is a Tenshintai, a special Soul Reaper tool normally used by the special forces, but I've got some friends in high places and got my hands on one. Basically, all you have to do is activate your shikai, stab this thing, and your spirit will appear. Once that happens, you have to defeat him, only then will you be able to achieve Bankai," he explained.

"Sounds pretty straight forward, so what's the catch?"

"The catch is, you've only got three days. Take any longer than that, and you'll probably die."

Matt lowered his head, contemplating if he really wanted to go through with this or not. He had no problems trying, but what if he failed? There were two negative possible outcomes, either Gabriel would end up killing him, or he'd die by running out of time; the odds definitely weren't in his favor. Still, if Ichigo could do it, then he could do it.

"I told you when we started I couldn't guarantee your safety, that you might die," he continued.

"I know, I knew what I was getting into," he said as he pulled out his claymore.

"It's like I keep telling you guys though; I've died once already, and it wasn't so bad."

He centered his zanpakuto, and prepared to call on his shikai, "Bring Heavens Wrath: **Gabriel**!"

As he shouted the command, he was engulfed in the familiar fires of his reiatsu. It was always such a warm feeling; it looked painful from the outside, but to him it was like a hot shower or sitting next to a strong fireplace. He smiled as his sword heated up to a similar temperature, the flames licking the superheated metal core of the blade. After using it a few times, the whole transition felt very natural and comfortable.

He opened his eyes and stared down at the flaming sword. In a sense, he was looking forward to this; how many people can say they've fought an angel. Even if he did die, this was one hell of a way to go down. At least he'd die swinging.

"This is your last chance to back dow-..." he was cut off as Matt had already stabbed the Tenshintai.

"Ichigo...shut up and get out of my way."

He said nothing, but shunpo'd away, leaving Matt to stare on as the Tenshintai took shape. It was slowly but surly re-molding itself into the shape he knew well. In a mere matter of seconds, Gabriel was standing in front of him, holding an identical flaming claymore. He was an intimidating figure; a white clad man with just as white hair and giant wings holding a sword that was on fire, not the sort of guy you'd want to piss off.

"I see you're finally moving onto Bankai," he said while taking a look at his surroundings.

"Yup, now is there any special way you want to do this?" asked Matt.

"Not particularly, no. I think a simple dual would suffice."

"That's it?"

"Yes, why?" he asked.

"Nothing, it's just that I expected something a bit more complicated than, 'hey, let's beat each other to death with sharp objects'. I mean, you are an a being who has a near infinite understanding of the workings of the universe, but that's just me."

"Sometimes, the greatest lessons can be taught in the simplest of forms."

Matt entered a zanjutsu stance, "Maybe."

Gabriel stood ready as well, the two staring each other down. Suddenly Gabriel dashed to the left and Matt followed, matching his course and speed perfectly. The two closed in one each other, and swung their blades, creating a gunshot like sound as the two pieces of superheated metal slammed into each other.

* * *

Ichigo stood atop a large rock structure near the entrance to the basement, watching Matt and his spirit battle. He was absorbed in the two blurs of flames until he heard a number of voices coming from the ladder.

"Come on slowpokes, he's already started!" shouted who Ichigo recognized as Jinto.

He looked over to the source of the voice; Jinto had dropped down to the ground, followed by Ururu and Tessai. Shortly afterwords, Kisuke, Nathan, and Rukai landed, and even Grimmjow showed up to watch. They all jumped up to where Ichigo was sitting; Rukai took a seat next to him and Nathan next to her, Jinto and Ururu sat a little farther to his left, Tessai sat behind them, and Kisuke and Grimmjow chose to stand.

"How late are we?"asked Nathan.

"Not very, he just started a minute ago."

"You wouldn't know it, they've already done some pretty severe damage to my basement," commented Kisuke.

Ichigo turned his attention back to the battle, Matt and Gabriel were it a fit of high speed strafing, slamming their blades into each others at speeds well beyond the human eye. Neither of them had sustained any injuries as far as Ichigo could tell, but this was, at most, a three day process; there would be plenty of time for injuries.

"Come on ya smarmy bastard, take him down!" shouted Nathan.

"I doubt he can hear you," said Rukai.

"It's the thought that counts."

Ichigo turned to Grimmjow. "So why are you here, you hate Matt?"

"True, but I wanna know if the punk can pull of Bankai or not, and if he can, then I wanna fight him. Watching him fight against his zanpakuto will give me a good idea of what he can do."

"Is fighting all you think about?" asked Rukia.

He gave her a dumb look and pointed to the gaping hole in his gut, "Hollow."

"Right, stupid question."

"You think he'll pull it off?" asked Jinto.

"I've got no doubt that he will, it's just a matter of when."

With that, they all turned back to Matt's battle with his zanpakuto; the arc angel Gabriel.

* * *

Matt jumped over a low sweeping slash that Gabriel sent his way. He retaliated a thrust with his own blade, but Gabriel easily sidestepped it and slashed for Matt's head. He twisted sideways; the blade came so close, he felt some of the flames lick his ear. The young Soul Reaper jumped back, but it was futile. He'd learned already that Gabriels wings gave him a huge advantage in speed, and his swordsmanship was better than Matt's by a mile.

They'd been fighting for four straight hours now, and Matt still hadn't landed a single blow. He wasn't fairing as well; he'd already gotten hit in the chest twice and his right arm got nicked about an hour ago. He'd also received a head wound from the pommel of Gabriels claymore, and the blood was dripping down his face, sometimes distracting him.

Speaking of his superior speed, Gabriel was now behind Matt as he sped backwards. He dug his feet into the ground and flipped to the right at the last seconds, avoiding a huge _Sanctus Incendia_ attack. As soon as he landed, he sensed Gabriel behind him again already. He put his sword over his shoulder, blocking the attack on his back, and twisted about, forcing both their blades into the ground.

"You've improved immensely Matt, even most other angels don't last this long against me," he complimented as brought their blades up again, and pushed the boy back.

Matt charged him again, and was easily deflected by the angel. With an opening in his defense, Gabriel delivered a strong kick to his stomach, shooting him back into a large stone about a mile away. Gabriel was there in an instant, just outside the cloud of dust and sand.

Suddenly he heard Matt's voice from inside the cloud, _"Sanctus Incendia!"_

Gabriel stepped to the side as the huge wave of flames blew past him and glassed all the sand in its path. Following in it's wake was his host himself, his blade raised and ready to strike. Gabriel jumped back a bit, Matt's claymore slamming harmlessly into the ground. The angel followed this up by kicking Matt hard in the chin, blasting him high into the air until he slammed into the ceiling of the basement.

He hung there for a second, and then began falling back to the ground. Before he was even halfway down though, Gabriel intercepted him. He grabbed the back of Matt's head, and forced in into his knee, breaking his nose. With that, Gabriel let him fall again until he hit the ground. Even though it was sand, the sheer altitude he fell from was enough to cause the impact to hurt.

Matt pushed himself up again, staggering up against the protest from his body. He spit out the blood that was gathering in his mouth and lifted his sword again, even though he was sure his left arm was out of its socket. Even as he was rising, Gabriel appeared in front of him again. Luckily, he was able to move fast enough to roll under the attack. Though as soon as he stood, he saw Gabriel's claymore had half it's blade in the sand as he used it as a platform for an inverted windmill kick.

The angels foot slammed straight into his face, firing him backwards again. He wasn't sure if he would be able to get up again; his arms and legs screamed at him to lay still, and his head was throbbing as he lost blood at an alarming speed. Once again, Gabriel was there, standing over his battered and bruised opponent.

"Is this all you have, is this what my power has been wasted on?" he said as he kicked Matt in the stomach again, sending him rolling back a few feet.

He began coughing up, no, vomiting up blood violently. The sand around him was covered in a red tint as his inner fluids soaked into the ground. The breaths he were able to breathe between his fits of coughing were ragged and strained at best.

"I really had faith in you, I honestly believed you could be a great warrior. Obviously the billions of years of existence have taught me nothing."

He raised his blade to strike the killing blow.

"Holly would have been disappointing."

He thrust the sword down, only to have it blocked. Not by a blade, not by an arm, not even by a hand; Matt had stopped the final attack with his index finger. What was even more amazing was the fact that he wasn't even looking in Gabriels general direction.

He heard him mumble something, but he couldn't hear it.

"What?" asked Gabriel.

"I said," he started as he grabbed ahold of Gabriels claymore with his entire hand, not even wincing in pain, "You really just need to SHUT UP!"

He pulled on his blade, forcing it down along with the angel. At the same time, Matt rose up and threw his left fist forward, punching Gabriel right in the jaw. The blow threw the angel all the way back into the ladder that led out of the basement, which at this point was at least a two mile distance.

Gabriel lay there in sand on his back. As he sat up, he moved his tongue around his mouth, and spit out one of his molars. He felt his mouth, and felt the blood trickle down his chin, and he grinned. He hadn't seen his own blood since the Great Rebellion of Lucifer. The Prince of Darkness himself had left a scar his chest, among other, less severe wounds.

He looked into the distance, and saw the familiar orange-red glow of Matt's energy. His full power was now in high gear, which was what Gabriel had been aiming to do.

'_It's about time,_' he thought to himself with a grin.

* * *

**Oh yeah, part one is done! Bankai is coming next chapter, then it's back to the Soul Society! Today sucked so far, but finishing this chapter brightened my day, I love a good fight scene. Speaking of which, what did you guys think, this was one of my better fight scenes, a few of my past ones were a little lazy in my opinion; the fight against Ichigo was one of them. That one could have come out better, but it was still good.**

**Anywho, many thanks for reading and reviewing, I'm now looking forward to writing Matt's Bankai, and then his fight against Toshiro, that'll be fun. For now though, I'm gonna take a little break; I'm still feeling a bit under the weather.**

**I'll recover quicker if you review, so think if my health!**


	8. Chapter 8: The Final Lesson: Part II

Guardian Angel

Chapter 8

**The Final Lesson:**

**Part II**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Bleach blah blah blah

Okay guys, Bankai time! This is a historic landmark of a chapter! After this it's off to the Soul Society again, and I know you're looking forward to that! (I am!)

More cheers to Human. Vizard and Kuroi Amaya for another review. I think you've reviewed every chapter so far, which makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, it truly does. I know I probably pissed you guys off with the whole 'cliffhanger' thing last chapter, but it's a two parter for a reason. This chapter will make up for last time though, I promise.

* * *

"Damn, what was that?" asked Grimmjow.

"If I had to bet anything, it was Matt losing his temper. Only he'd have the gall to sucker-punch an angel," answered Nathan.

Ichigo and Kisuke were the only ones who really know what was going on. From the immense spiritual pressure, and the familiar glow, Matt's Soul Buffers had broken down again, and he was fighting in overdrive. This was sort of a mixed blessing; it would definitely give Matt the boost he needed to come back in the fight, but even if he won, the strain from that much reiatsu rushing around at one time, and the injuries he'd already sustained on top of the fact that he'd have Bankai to deal with, meant that he might die anyway. Still, he at least had a shot now.

The group watched as the desert basement was once again subjected to the battle between angel and Soul Reaper. The battle had become much more intense now, as both their speeds had increase exponentially. It was truly a sight to behold; the entire landscape looked as though there were dozens of Matt's and Gabriels battling each other as they left countless after-images of themselves battling across the desert. Once again, Ichigo found himself shivering at the thought of him actually achieving Bankai.

From their distance, it seemed that they were now on equal grounds, both of them fighting each other without gaining anything on the other. What know one knew though was that there was something different; Gabriel was straining himself. The reason for this was simple; Gabriel was his zanpakuto spirit, and even though the angel was on the material plain, he was still connected to Matt. All the raw reiatsu that Matt was giving off was coming at him as well, and was putting his synthesized body under strain it wasn't design for, making his movements much harder to maintain. In essence, Matt was slowly weakening him.

Ichigo, though unable to get anything in greater detail, could see the basic outlines of their movements, and realized just this. It seemed that this battle was now turning in Matt's favor; it was now just a waiting game to see how long Gabriel could hold out, which right now didn't seem to be very long. At this rate, he had maybe another ten hours before he was completely drained. Normally he'd have to stop them after about twelve hours to let Matt recover, but at this point, he doubted he could stop them even if he wanted to.

_'Keep it up Matt, you're getting closer to Bankai.'_

* * *

_Eight Hours Later - 20 miles from basement entrance  
_

Matt dug his feet into the ground and gathered reiatsu in his hand.

"Way of Destruction 54: _Abolishing Flames_!" he shouted.

As he yelled this, the purple incinerating energy exploded from his palm and flew at Gabriel. The attack was moving to fast and the blast radius was too large for him to dodge it, so he pulled up his claymore and attempted to deflect it. As the beam hit the sword, the blade reflected the energy and caused it to arc into two separate beams. The scale of the attack was enough to push the angel back.

He was so focused on deflecting the blast, that he didn't hear Matt yell out another Kido spell from behind him. He turned his head and his eyes widened when he was a second red beam coming at him from behind. There was no way he could dodge either one, so he did the only only thing he could do. He clenched his teeth, closed his eyes, and prepared for the worst.

A second later, a violent explosion erupted and Gabriel was blown toward the ground. Matt went chasing after him, only to have Gabriel turn the tables on him when he made a grab for his neck. With Gabriel now on top of Matt, the Soul Reaper took the brunt of the impact. The two were sliding across the desert sand, Matt taking a few punches to the face from Gabriel, before he turned the tables back in his favor. He grabbed ahold of Gabriels arm and flipped onto his side, which caused both of them to fly off in different directions, but since he held onto the angels arm, he stayed within striking distance.

He put his hand to Gabriels chest and shouted, "Way of Destruction 33: _Blue Fire Crash Down_!"

A blue cannon-like attack erupted him his hand and send the angel flying yet again. Matt again made chase and followed his zanpakuto spirit through the desert terrain. Once he finally came to a stop, Matt jumped up and tried to deliver a strong punch, but Gabriel rolled the side and the force of the blow was absorbed into the sand. As he pulled up his fist, Gabriel came at him with his claymore, only barely dodging the first slash. He brought up his own sword and began parrying the attacks, and attempting to break through his defense. A weakened body still didn't change the fact that Gabriel was light-years ahead of Matt in swordsmanship. When it came to this aspect of combat, he was stuck on the defensive, and Gabriel knew that.

'_Think damn it, think! There's gotta be a weakness somewhere, everyone has a weak spot, even an angel!'_

He was sure even angels had one sensitive weak point on their bodies, and he knew he knew it, he just couldn't remember. If Holly were here she'd know, she was always into angels and stuff like this. He even remembered that she had told him once.

_FlashBack_

_"So remind me again why we're staying here and not going to the arcade," complained Matt._

_"Because, I just got Paradise Lost from the library and I want to read it."_

_Matt sighed and spread out on her bed. She always did this; every time she got a new book, she'd ditch everything else and read until she finished it. Matt was never one for reading, he was more for TV and video games._

_"So what's that book about anyway?" he asked._

_"It's all about how Lucifer rebelled against God and worked against mankind, it's good, you should read it."_

_"No thanks. Hey, aren't angels invincible or something?"_

_She shook her head. "Nope, they can be harmed just like anyone else, but their wings are their most important point. That's where they store their power."_

_"Huh."_

_End of Flashback_

That was it, he had to aim for the wings! If he could even injure one of them, it'd give him the leg up that he needed! He quickly ducked under Gabriels latest attack, then gathered his reiatsu in his stomach. With a large breath he spat out a great wave of fire from his mouth, giving him a good distraction. He leaped over the flames and raised his claymore high. Gabriel, expecting him to go for a direct attack, brought up his sword to block.

Matt landed on the blade with his feet, and used the sword as a platform so he could jump over Gabriels head and land behind him. Before the angel could turn around, Matt had already sliced through a portion of his left wing. He reeled back in pain and clutched the injured wing, which was now stained with the red of blood. Matt attacked again, trying to keep his advantage going.

While Gabriel was able to block it, his reaction time was already noticeably slower. With this in mind, Matt began focusing less on getting through his defenses, and more on overwhelming them. It was at the point where he didn't nessacarily need accuracy, he just needed strong and fast enough attacks that he couldn't block them all. He'd have to remember to thank Holly for being such a bookworm, because now that Gabriels wing was injured, he was already easier to deal with.

He forced the angels blade down and was able to nail his face with a strong kick to the face. Matt leaped back, then up again, preparing his reiatsu.

"_Sanctus Incendia_!" he shouted.

The wave of blistering heat fired out of the Soul Reapers blade and collided with Gabriel at full force, blowing straight through a sand dune, and landing with a thud on the other side. When he jumped over the dune, Gabriel was already up, so Matt continued to try and overwhelm his defenses. Trying to attack as many times as he could before he countered him and was forced to move back. He could see the sweat building on his brow.

"What's the matter Gabriel, getting tired!?" mocked Matt as he continued his onslaught.

The angels eyes flared.

"Don't get cocky, boy!" he shouted back.

Suddenly, Matt was on his back as the angel swept his feet from under him. A second later he felt a burning sensation in his stomach; Gabriels claymore had bore itself into Matts abdomen. He was already coughing up blood from the wound, and it didn't help that Gabriel was pushing the sword farther into his body. He grunted in pain and sucked in breaths through clenched teeth.

"It was a good try Matt, but you lose," stated Gabriel.

Matt just smirked. "You'd think so wouldn't you."

"What?"

Gabriel looked down, and saw that Matts hand was glowing in a bright yellow glow. It looked like a small sun was being held in his fist, and the heat was enough to make the angel cringe.

"This is a level 88 destruction kido, The Shaking Thunder Cannon. Not enough to defeat you under normal circumstances, but these are hardly normal circumstances."

"How do you mean?" he asked.

"Well, I've shoved just about every last ounce of reiatsu I have into this thing, and on top of that, I haven't mastered this particular spell yet, making it even more unstable. In short; make one more move, and everything within about a dozen miles gets vaporized."

"A meaningless threat, you would die either way."

Matt grew an even bigger grin, one that showed a bit of madness behind it. "Yeah, but this isn't about whether or not I die, this is about what happens afterwords."

Gabriel raised an eyebrow. "Again, how do you mean?"

"If you kill me, then I'm murdered, and go to heaven. If I intentionally fire this Kido though, knowing that I'll die as an outcome, then it counts as a suicide, and you know what happens to me after that, don't you?" he asked with a confident grin.

"You would be sentenced to eternity in Hell," he answered.

"Exactly. Now ask yourself Gabriel, do you really want my soul on your conscious for the rest of eternity? You may not like me, but you're an angel, and it's in you nature to try and keep people out of Hell. There's only one way to keep me from firing off this spell, and that's to surrender."

He stood up and sighed. He was right, it was against everything he believed in to intentionally let someone sentence themselves to Hell, especially for such a useless purpose. He had no other option but to yield.

"Come on Gabriel, you know I'm just stupid enough to do it, especially since I already have a sword in my gut. If you surrender, I live and get Bankai, and you get to keep your conscious clean as well as keep me out of Hell. It's a win-win situation," Matt persuaded.

"I will agree...under one condition."

"And it is?"

"Tell me, when did you figure all this out?"

He wore a proud look on his face. "This has been my fallback plan from the start, I knew I'd probably never be able to beat you, and you were too smart to out think, so in this situation the only option I had left was to use your ideals against you. My soul was the perfect bartering chip."

Gabriel stood there with an astonished look on his face. He'd been outsmarted by a mortal; billions of years of battles and knowledge had amounted to nothing, he'd been completely manipulated. This was probably the most embarrassing moment of his eternal life, and even though he was an angel, he'd done some pretty stupid things.

He smiled though, it was a risky, not to mention stupid plan on Matt's part, but it was also an extremely well thought out plan. Throughout the battle he'd shown quick reflexes, strength, use of strategy, creativity, and most of all, he used his head. He'd definitely earned his Bankai, and had _technically_ forced him into submission, which was all that was required. There was still one question that nagged at him though.

"You were really willing risk eternal damnation for power?" he asked.

Matt shook his head. "No, I wasn't...but I was for my family, and I was for Holly. How many times do I have to explain myself to everyone, what happens to me doesn't really matter; I've got the power to protect them, so everything else is secondary," he said with a stone serious face.

Gabriel's face felt his face change to a mix of pride and admiration. He kneeled down again, grabbing his claymore -which was still impaled in Matt's stomach- and placed his other hand on Matt's chest. He began to glow in a blinding white light, like the light people describe when they have near death experiences.

"Matt...you would have made an excellent angel," he said as he disappeared back into Matt along with his claymore.

The glow transferred to Matt, and it intensified. It was like a giant beacon in the middle of the desert, extending it's light for miles and more. Matt could feel the difference in his body as well; he felt lighter, stronger, more focused and stable. He was slowly lifted into the air, and felt the familiar warmth of his own reiatsu continuing to meld with Gabriels own energies, creating his Bankai.

He just as slowly descended back down to the ground and then the light suddenly dissipated. He opened his eyes again, and picked up his claymore. Instantly he noticed the difference; his blade remained the same, but the fire was now as white as Gabriels hair.

He also noticed his clothes had changed. His Soul Reaper robes were now completely discarded, in their place was the lower half of Gabriels robes, a white trench coat that left his chest bare, steel shoulder plates, and white fingerless gloves with Triquetra's on them. The most notable feature however, were the glowing angelic runes running down his torso and face, like he had his own lighting system running through his body.

The transformation was amazing, he looked and felt so different, but still seemed the same. He realized though, that he should probably get back to everyone, seeing as how he'd probably been down here for quite a while. With that, he jumped and started to _fly_ back to Ichigo and the others.

* * *

It was nearing midnight and the sounds of battle had faded away from the ears of the group seated at the other end of the desert. Rukia was asleep, leaning on Ichigo's shoulder, which embarrassed him to no end. Jinta and Ururu were also down along with Tessai. Kisuke was asleep as well, snoring loudly. The only ones awake were Ichigo, Nathan, and Grimmjow. The arrancar was fighting a losing battle against sleep, but Ichigo and Nathan were both wide awake. The two of them were staring intently into the distance, looking for any sign that Matt was at least still alive.

Then out of nowhere, a huge column of white light shot out from just over the horizon, illuminating everything in sight. At first Ichigo thought it was an attack, but after a few seconds he sensed that there were two spiritual pressures that were both fading into one entity, and stared in awe.

"Twelve hours...he did it in twelve hours," he said, still gaping.

"That kid...is a beast," said Nathan, in a similar state.

They both heard shuffling from behind them, and saw Grimmjow getting up.

"What's goin' on now?" he asked.

"The kid just got Bankai," said Nathan.

"Already? Jesus, that was fast."

The three waited in silence for the next few minutes, scanning the horizon for any signs of movement at all. They stared out until all three of them saw a glimmering light in the sky moving towards them. It continued to grow in size and intensity, and showed no signs of slowing.

"Is that...?" asked Nathan.

"I think so," answered Ichigo.

Another few seconds later, the light flew over them and landed on ground behind the three. They all stood up and ran over to the figure they suspected might be Matt. They were proven right when he turned around, the glowing runes on his body illuminating his face in the darkness.

"Sup guys," he said. The next second he collapsed on the ground, asleep before he even hit the ground.

"Well...that was graceful," said Nathan.

* * *

**Alright! The Bankai mini-arc is over and we'll be moving onto the Soul Society next chapter, WOOOOOO! I do so enjoy writing this story. There's only one big fight left, and that's the one with Toshiro, so that's about all that's left. The fight is acutally very improtant to the story, and Lil-Shiro here is gonna be a primary player in the sequel. Even I'm excited about that because, let's face it, regardless of which gender you are, you have to find that silver haired shorty awesome.**

**Remeber to review my minions!**


	9. Chapter 9: One Last Roadblock

Guardian Angel

Chapter 9

**One Last Roadblock **

**Disclaimer: **You guys get it by now right?

GOOD NEWS!! My cold is gone! It screwed over my weekend and Monday sucked ass, but today was great! Also, I'll be gone all day Friday and most of Saturday, (All night Halo-thon!) so there probably won't be an update on Friday, but I might just DOUBLE post on Saturday for making you wait.

Anywho, this is a serious chapter, but it's still humorous and full of Bleach goodness. We have Matt and Toshiro actually meeting this chapter and it sets up the reason why two end up fighting each other.

On a super-special note, I was looking through Human. Vizard's profile, (That's not weird right?) and happened to notice that she's from Scotland. Now, I don't know how many people know this, but Scotland just happens to be the birthplace of Matt's weapon, THE CLAYMORE; the most bad-ass weapon to come from the continent of Europe! (HAH, take that rapier, you stupid ass excuse for a sword!) In honor of the Scottish people and their amazing blade-work, I DEDICATE THIS CHAPTER TO ALL OF SCOTLAND!

* * *

The whole group sat in the sitting room, everyone waiting for the news on how Matt was doing. When he made it back to the basement entrance, he was pretty badly wounded. They had brought him up to the guest room in the shop and Ichigo called Orihime, -who was boarding at the University- and she came right over. He was surprised it was taking this long; Orihime was an incredible healer so any wound that took her a half an hour had to have been severe.

Kisuke was in there with her, mostly just making observations as she healed him, trying to get any data he could on his ability to dissolve his Soul Buffers. He'd apparently been concerned about that particular ability, as he and Ichigo had a discussion during Matt's first day of Kido training with Rukai.

_Flashback_

"_So, what is it that you wanted to talk about?" asked Ichigo._

_Kisuke and Ichigo sat in the back room while Rukai and Matt were training with Kido in the basement. Kisuke had called him in for something important, or so he said._

"_I want to talk to you about Matt."_

"_I thought we were done with this," he said, frustrated he had woken him up for the same stupid argument._

"_No, this is different. My concern isn't so much about Matt, as it is _for_ him," he corrected._

_Ichigo cocked an eyebrow. "How so?"_

"_I have reason to believe that Matt's condition, his unstable Soul Buffers, may actually cause his body harm."_

"_Really, how do you figure that?"_

"_Let's go back to the river analogy again. Now, water erodes the riverside and the riverbed correct?"_

"_Of course."_

"_And you also know that the faster the water moves, the faster they erode. Well, think of Matt's reiatsu as the water; and his spiritual pathways as the riverside and riverbed," he explained._

"_So…you're saying when his buffers break, his reiatsu actually erodes his spiritual pathways?"_

"_In the simplest of terms, yes, that's exactly what's happening. I don't believe the one or two times he used it will leave any noticeable damage, but if he uses it too frequently, then it could have consequences."_

"_What kind of consequences are we talking about?"_

"_If left unchecked, it could destabilize his spiritrons, which would completely obliterate him. That's the worst case scenario, but it isn't entirely impossible."_

_Ichigo sighed and ran a hand through his hair._

"_What can we do?"_

"_I was hoping you'd ask," he chirped as he reached into his pocket. He pulled out a necklace; it was in the shape of a cross and was white with silver streaks running through it._

"_You're gonna give him jewelry?"_

"_No, no. Do you remember the eye patch that Kenpachi Zaraki wore when you invaded the Soul Society way back when?"_

_He nodded. "Yeah, it sucked away his reiatsu."_

"_Well, I took the original schematics for that eye patch, integrated them into this necklace, and then made some special modifications."_

"_What modifications?"_

"_Well basically, it's like the eye patch, but instead of stealing his power, it's more like a reiatsu recycler, taking the excess power he leaks out and diverts it to the buffers to keep in one piece."_

"_Won't that weaken him though?" protested Ichigo. _

"_Slightly; he still maintains about ninety to ninety-three percent of his total power, but without having to worry about his pathways degrading if he gets out of control. He only loses a small fraction of energy."_

_Ichigo did an impressed whistle. He took the trinket in his hand at examined it; it looked just like a regular necklace, but if this thing could do what Kisuke said it could, it would be invaluable to Matt. Unfortunately, he couldn't give it to him yet._

"_This is pretty impressive," he complimented._

"_Probably my best invention ever; all the designs and statistics are solid, all it needs is a test drive."_

"_I'll be sure to give it to him…after his Bankai training."_

"_What!? Ichigo, that's the perfect time to test it, and without that necklace his health is at risk!"_

_Ichigo shook his head. "Yeah, but you said it yourself, he has to use it frequently for it to effect him. On top of that, you know how strong he his, can you imagine how strong his zanpakuto spirit must be? As much as I don't like it, he needs that ability of his to give him a leg up, it's his only advantage."_

_Kisuke gave him an unsure look, but sighed and stood up._

"_Alright Ichigo, he's your student. I just hope you know what you're doing."_

_As he left the room, Ichigo hoped the exact same thing._

_End of Flashback_

He was still unsure if he'd made the right choice, but at least Matt was alive, so that counted for something. He was worried though; what if his choice to not give him the necklace had inevitably killed him? He collapsed as soon as he landed, and he'd obviously lost a lot of blood, but he was worried more about the internal damage than the cuts and bruises. Why did his first student have to be such a complicated guy?

He felt his his left hand suddenly grow ward as someone laced their fingers between his. He looked over and saw Rukai giving him a reassuring look as her grip grew stronger. (Can you tell which pairing I'm shipping yet, or do I have to start beating people?)

"He'll be okay," she told him.

"I hope so," he said, staring down at the table.

"He better be, or I'm gonna be pissed," commented Grimmjow.

"He'll be fine, he's too stubborn to die again," said Nathan.

As if to prove Nathan right, Orihime exited the room with Kisuke in tow. She hadn't changed much over the years, she still had the same bubbly -if not a bit odd- personality, long hair, and penchant for concocting the strangest of foods. Ichigo felt a wave of relief rush through him when he was her smiling, a signal that Matt was okay.

"How is he Orihime?" asked Ichigo.

"He went through quite the ordeal, but he'll be fine; he just needs to sleep now, I know I do," she said, rubbing her eyes.

"I'll let him stay here tonight Ichigo, you can go on home," said Kisuke.

"Right, I'll be back early in the morning, come on Rukia, you can stay in my closet for old times sake."

"Oh, I almost forgot how much I missed that stuffy old closet!" she exclaimed as they walked out the door.

* * *

The next day, Ichigo woke up bright and early. He had class in about an hour, so he'd have to hurry; it didn't help that his father still retained the old habit of attacking him out of nowhere. Rukia just jumped out his window as always, so she was already set when he made it outside. He didn't have a lot of time, so he decided to drive today. He didn't normally, he liked walking to school, it was his time to think and plan; mostly about Matt's training.

The drive only lasted about five minutes, and the two quickly ran into the store. They entered the store and passed straight through the front room. In the back, Matt was already up, eating some scrambled eggs for breakfast and was surprised to see the two of them so early.

"What're you two doing here, it's like, seven?" he asked.

"We just came to make sure you were alright, you freaked us out last night when you just collapsed like that," said Ichigo, laughing a little.

"Yeah well, I'm okay now, and I finally got Bankai, " he said, standing up.

He walked up to Ichigo and held out his hand. Ichigo smiled and grasped it.

"Thanks for all your help Ichigo, I owe ya one."

"You can repay me by getting that badge and keeping that friend of yours safe."

"No problem, I can handle it," he said with a confident grin.

Ichigo opened up a plastic bag he was carrying around. He reached in and pulled out a brown cloak with a number of threads running around it. He held it in his hand and pushed to Matt.

"What's this?"

"It's a cloak I picked up in the Soul Society five years ago, as long as you're wearing this, people will know who you are."

Matt quickly took it and slipped it around his shoulders and tied the threads. He adjusted Gabriel so he was now secured around his waist instead of over his shoulder like usual. Once he was satisfied, he grinned again.

"How's it look from out there, cause I'm loving this."

Rukia had to admit, if Matt just had orange hair right now, he'd have been the spitting image of Ichigo back when he'd come to rescue her five years ago.

"Not bad, it looked better on me, but not bad," joked Ichigo.

"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, Nathan's getting ready for our trip back to the Soul Society. You want a lift Rukia, I know you've gotta get back to the thirteenth division?"

"Actually yes, I've been away a little too long and my brother is bound to worry."

Ichigo picked up his school bag and waved goodbye, "I gotta get going, don't be a stranger Matt. Swing by sometime, I could always use some help with the Hollows."

"Sure thing!"

As he walked out the door, he stopped himself and reached into the pocket, fingering the necklace Kisuke gave him.

"Hey Matt, catch!" He threw the cross shaped pendant to him, and he caught it easily.

"Whats this?" he asked, staring at the necklace.

"Just another little going away present," he said as he left the shop. Matt thought it was a little strange, but thought nothing of it and slipped it over his head and around his neck. With perfect timing, Nathan pushed his way through the door just as Ichigo left.

"Alright, we're set to go! Rukai, you're coming with us I assume?"

She nodded, "Yes, sir."

"Right then, let's get moving."

Nathan quickly made a_ senkaimon, _and three Hell Butterflies fluttered around them. The extra-dimensional gates opened and they walked through the threshold. It wasn't Matt's first time through one, but it was his first time going through one still conscious. With the butterflies guiding them, it didn't take long, only a few minutes at most.

On the other side, they were met by two guards who were on edge for a second until they saw Nathan, as he flashed his Lieutenants badge. In a matter of minutes they were back in the Seireitei, a place that still seemed alien to Matt, even though he'd been pretty well educated as a Soul Reaper and spent a good amount of time in Japan, which this place seemed to resemble in a number of ways.

Something he did notice were the weird looks he was getting from people. Ichigo must have been right, they might know who exactly he was, but they sure as hell recognized the cloak. The one thing that made him the most on edge though, was the huge mass of spiritual pressure that was following them. It was seriously an unholy amount, up there with his and Ichigo's, and the weird thing was, there seemed to be another one right on top of it. (Any guesses yet?)

Suddenly, the huge mass of said spiritual pressure was right behind him and it made his stomach churn. He was almost afraid to turn around and look. Before he even turned his neck though, he heard his voice address Rukai.

"Rukia, is this him? Is this Ichigo's apprentice?" he asked.

Matt slowly turned around and saw probably the most psychotic looking man in the universe. He had crazy spiked black hair, an eye-patch, and a ripped captains robe. He had a jagged scar running down his face, and an almost sickening grin that sent a shiver down his spine. On his shoulder was what seemed to be his polar opposite, a small pink haired girl who seemed to be the happiest thing he'd seen all day.

"Yes captain Zaraki, this is him," she responded, concern evident in her voice.

"Interesting."

Before Matt even saw it coming, the grizzly bear of a man drew his zanpakuto. He had no time to draw Gabriel, so he resorted to blocking the strike with his wrist. Painful, yes, but at least he blocked it.

His zanpakuto seemed to be as beat up and damaged as him. It's edge was jagged and scraped up, it hardly looked like it could cut anything. It sure didn't feel it though, that attack hurt like a mother, but it didn't draw any blood, which was good, because Matt was completely convinced this guy must be some kind of vampire or something to be this crazy.

"Heh, I see he pounded those quick reflexes into ya; impressive."

"Yeah, Ichi sure did a good job with this guy!" chirped the girl on his shoulder.

"Who are you?" Matt demanded.

"Captain Kenpachi Zaraki of the eleventh division, the front-line combat division. We could use a guy like you, interested?" he grinned.

"Nope," he responded simply.

"I hate to interrupt this captain, but we have to get going. I was ordered to report to captain Ukitake the minute I got back." said Nathan.

Zaraki grunted, but put away his zanpakuto. "Fine, but just know that you owe me a match kid. Anyone trained by Ichigo has got to be a good opponent."

"I've got a name ya know, it's Matt Anderson, remember it," said Matt, glaring back at the giant man.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that," he said slyly, then shunpo'd away. When he was sure he was gone, Matt finally turned around and continued walking.

"Geez, what a freakin' nut-job," grunted Matt.

"That's captain Zaraki for you, he's always doing that sort of thing," explained Nathan.

"Is anyone in this place even close to normal?"

"Not that I've seen, no," said Rukia.

"Wonderful," grunted Matt again.

They continued to walk down the Seireitei in relative peace. Matt still noticed people staring or even whispering in some instances, which made him extremely uncomfortable. At least he'd get to head back to the thirteenth division barracks, where he actually knew someone. So far, captain Jushiro was the only captain he liked. Sure he'd only met two as of yet, but he was sure most of them were just as weird as Zaraki.

It was just then that he remembered he was only a few hours away from getting his badge and heading back home. That was when he thought about what Holly was doing at the moment; he hadn't thought about her in a while and almost felt a little guilty. Still, he'd be able to make up for it once he got back to Seattle.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in Seattle, it was just now getting a bit dark, and Holly was out on a walk around the park near her house. She had just come back from Matt's spot again, and was still restless, so she decided to just walk. Not many people were out around here, most of the littler kids that were usually here were inside by now, so she was pretty much alone. She'd slowly recovered in regards to Matt, though it still stung, and she would find herself drifting off to think about him from time to time. Her weird dreams had stopped, which she found odd in itself, but didn't question it.

The sun wasn't quite setting, but wasn't quite in the sky either, it was sort of like a pre-twilight. She was in a particularly open area of the park, on the edge of the grass and facing the street. Her current thoughts were focused on this strange feeling she'd been getting as of late. It seemed like everytime she visited Matt's spot, she would get this strange warm tingle in the back of her neck. It started about a week or so ago, and only got stronger since then.

She was enjoying her walk, when she saw something move out of her peripheral vision. She looked up at the building across the street, and there was a guy standing on the roof. Not doing anything, just standing there, like he was looking for something. He was wearing some weird clothes to, some kind of Japanese looking robes. She noticed that the robes looked like the ones Matt was wearing in her dreams. Curious, she called out to him.

"Hey mister, what're you doing up there?" she yelled.

He didn't respond, he didn't even move. Frustrated, she called again.

"Hey, you could at least talk to me ya robe wearing freak!"

Now he noticed her.

"What? Hey, you're not supposed to be able to see me! Ah, I'm not supposed to be talking to you either!" he shouted.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked.

Before she could get her answers though, he jumped away, leaving her alone and very confused.

* * *

The thirteenth division barracks didn't seem quite as different as the rest of the Seireitei did. Matt actually recognized some people from when he was here before, though he didn't know any of their names. Still more staring and whispers abound, but Matt just tuned it out and marched straight ahead. Nathan stopped the two of them when they reached the captains office.

"Alright, same rules apply as last time Matt; no sarcasm, speak with respect," warned Nathan.

"I got it Nathan; besides, I like captain Ukitake."

"Good, then let's get on with this."

He knocked on the door then slid it open. Just like the first time Matt had been here, the captain was busy with his paperwork when he heard everyone walk into his office.

"Matt, Nathan, Rukia; long time no see."

Matt waved, "Hello again captain."

"So, I can tell you've come quite a long way in such a short time. Ichigo has certainly done his job well," he laughed.

"Yeah, Ichigo threw everything he had at me and I came out still standing. I even achieved Bankai."

He laughed again, "Good, that will make things even easier. The better your resume, the easier it will be to get you a deputy badge. Achieving Bankai will carry much weight in their decision."

"So how exactly do I get the badge?"

"Most of the of thirteen captains have already been alerted to your arrival, so a meeting will be called an hour from now where you will appeal your case. Of course you can expect my support. Rukai and Nathan will also be useful in your argument, they can act as witnesses, to help you prove your claims," he explained.

"So it's like a trial," Matt concluded.

"In a sense."

"And what'll happen if I don't become a deputy Soul Reaper?"

He leaned back in his chair. "While I highly doubt that will be the case, if for some reason they do not decide in your favor, I will recommend you for my squad. There happens to be an opening in your home town, I'd gladly assign you to the slot. You wouldn't be able to stay there indefinitely as you would be if you were a Deputy, but it would be the closest I could get."

"I appreciate that captain."

"Yes well, the meeting isn't for another hour or so. I have other business that needs tending to at the moment, so you're free to move about the Seireitei as you wish."

He grew a smirk behind his cloak. "Cool."

* * *

A half an hour later, Matt had already covered a lot of ground. He leaped all over the place, and ran into some interesting people. He ended up at the eleventh division first and got challenged by some bald guy to a fight. Fortunately, he was able to slip away while the guy did some weird dance; he wasn't gonna ask questions, he just got outta there. A few minutes later, he ran into another captain with weird hair. What freaked him out was he was actually Rukia's brother; he never would've guessed that her brother was a captain...or that she had a brother. Anyway, the guy was pretty quiet and a little creepy, but he was definitely much more normal that most of the people he'd run into so far.

He figured he had about another half hour or so until the meeting with the captains, so he still had time to goof off. He landed in a street and wondered where he'd go next. He shrugged, swiveled around, and turned a corner. As he rounded it though, he felt something or someone collide with his chest. He looked down, and at first all he saw was this mass of silver hair. When the two of them stepped back, he saw it was just a kid.

"Oops, sorry about that shorty," he said, scratching the back of his head. He laughed a little until he saw the vains in the kids head popping out.

"Uh..."

"What...did you call me?" he hissed.

Matt started to get nervous, the kid was looking at him like he wanted to kill him.

"Um...shorty, of course, you're hair's white, so I guess I could call you frosty to."

The veins continued to bulge out of his forehead. "My name...is CAPTAIN Hitsugaya! Get it right!"

Matt cocked an eyebrow. "You're a captain?"

"Yes! I've got the captains robe and everything, what's wrong with you!?"

"Nothing, it's just you are kinda sho-... never mind."

"I don't know who you are, but I'm gonna get back at you for this," he hissed.

Matt smiled sheepishly again, and shunpo'd away.

'_Oh, I don't doubt that in the slightest.' _He thought to himself nervously, knowing that shorty held part of his fate in his hands.

* * *

After another twenty minutes of goofing off, Nathan caught up with Matt and brought him to the main tower where the captains were meeting. He was sitting outside said room, waiting for them to call him in. Nathan sat a little ways away fiddling with his fingers, and Rukia was laying around somewhere. He was scared to death of going in there, he was never good with public speaking. Of course it didn't help that the people he was planning on speaking to were the most powerful people in the afterlife...and he pissed one off about twenty minutes ago. Hopefully he'd forget about it, or wouldn't recognize him, but he highly doubted it.

He looked up when the doors opened and an attendant waved them over. The trio stood up and walked over to the doors, entering the meeting room. It was expansive, majestic, and predominantly white in color. The thirteen captains sat in two rows facing each other, except for one elderly man, who sat at the end of the room. All their eyes were locked on him, and he tried his hardest not to look intimidated, but it wasn't easy.

As he stood in between the two rows, the older man, who he assumed was the head captain, spoke out in a booming voice.

"Mathew Anderson, it has come to the attention of this council of captains that you wish to be granted to status of Deputy Soul Reaper. It has also come to our attention that Ichigo Kurosaki has personally trained you, is this true?"

He nodded. "Yes sir."

"Rukia Kuckiki, Nathan Yester, can you attest to this?" he asked.

"We can sir, we were both present for much of his training," said Rukia.

"And your personal opinion of this young man?"

Nathan stepped forward and put a hand on Matt's shoulder.

"Sir, he's dedicated, loyal, devoted, brave, and probably one of the strongest Soul Reapers I've ever met; I fully recommend him."

"I completely second that opinion sir," agreed Rukia.

"I see...Mathew, would you please tell us the reason you wish to become a Deputy Soul Reaper?"

He could literally feel all the captains turn every ounce of their attention on him. He exhaled heavily, mostly to calm himself down.

"Look, I never asked to be a Soul Reaper, it was thrown in my face the second I died and I've had to try and understand everything that's been forced on me. I'm not saying I don't like being a Soul Reaper, it's probably the best thing that's ever happened to me, but at the same time, I didn't have a say in even becoming one, so I'd at least like to have a say in how I use the abilities I've been granted," he started.

"I've still got family and friends back where I came from, and I want to be there to protect them, and anyone else who's being attacked by a Hollow. I don't care what I have to do, but I need to be there to watch over them. Just tell me what I have to to do to convince you that I'd make a good Deputy Soul Reaper and I'll do it, I don't care what it is. Compared to the people I care about, everything that happens to me is secondary. I've developed a little saying over the course of my training, 'I've already died once, it wasn't so bad'."

"Please, I've come so far and worked so hard, all I'm asking is to be allowed to protect my home."

The entire room went silent, then the head captain cleared his throat, drawing everyone's attention.

"That is all we needed to hear, please wait outside while the council cast's their votes."

Matt nodded and turned around to leave; Nathan and Rukia followed. They resumed their stances outside the meeting hall once again, sitting around waiting for them to finish their votes.

"Man Matt, I've gotta hand it to you, you can really deliver a speech when you have to," said Nathan.

"It's not really me, it's just sort of an unconscious mode I go into."

"Well either way, I think you've got a good shot at that badge."

He hoped so, he'd be pretty pissed if all that work he put into getting the thing were shot down. Of course, even if they didn't give him the badge, he'd probably just disregard the rules and go home anyway. He could take on anything the Soul Society could throw at him, and if worst came to worst, he could always hide out with Kisuke for a while. There was no way a bunch of people he didn't even know were gonna keep him from staying with his family and friend, what right did they have to say who he could and couldn't protect?

He sat there for at least ten minutes planning out what he'd do if everything went to hell. He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn't even noticed the attendant re-emerge from the room again, and wave them back in. Matt jumped up and almost jogged in to know what they had decided.

He walked in and stood where he had before, waiting to hear the news. Some captains were smiling, others had a disappointed look on their faces, so he was getting mixed messages until he saw that Jushiro was one of the captains smiling. Did that mean that he was in?

"Mathew Anderson, it is the decision of this court that you are to be granted the status of Deputy Soul Reaper in a ten to three vote."

He couldn't help but smile. "Thank you very much sir."

"There is one condition however; a combat requirement," the older man explained.

Matt cocked an eyebrow. "Well, what is it exactly?"

"You must be capable of defeating a captain class Soul Reaper, and we already have a volunteer."

That sounded fair enough. "Alright, who am I facing?"

One of the captains near him stood. He looked over at a short Soul reaper with a familiar bush of silver hair.

"You shall be facing captain Toshiro Hitsugaya. If you can defeat him, you will be granted deputy status."

Toshiro was wearing a smirk on his face and Matt pinched the bridge between his eyes.

_'Oh crap,' _he thought to himself.

"Payback time," Toshiro said eagerly.

* * *

**YES YES YES!! This is the longest chapter I've ever written ever! You guys have no idea how much of a pain this was, oh my God I'm gonna collapse any second. There was SO MUCH in this chapter it wasn't even funny. Good news my fans, next chapter is Matt's battle with Hitsugaya! (Let the fangirl shrieking begin.) Done? Okay good.  
**

**Alright, I've got two favors to ask of my faithful readers (i.e- you guys)**

**1.) I want idea's for the sequel, since this first story is coming to a close. (pairing suggestions, plot twists, ect.)  
**

**2.) I would greatly appreciate it if you guys would spread the word about this story to anyone you know for a fact is on this site, or just goes to this site without an account (I've enabled anonymous reviews). More reviews are always good.**

**I'm gonna go take a break now, I'm wiped.**


	10. Chapter 10: Stick 'N' Move

Guardian Angel

Chapter 10

**Stick 'N' Move**

**Disclaimer: **Blah blah blah, you guys know the drill.

This has been the best day ever! English class; I had to give a speech today, and I was scared shitless. It lasted a total of five minutes, and when I was done...a solid minute of applause. I know, I was just a shocked as you are. I have no idea what my actual grade was, but I feel good about it.

Now on to important matters. I've already gotten some suggestions for the sequel to this chapters and while I liked some, others I'm afraid I'll have to discard for the sake of the story that I've already decided on.

Also, to put any confusion at all to rest, I must tell you this now. Toshiro fans are going to hate me for this but...HITSUGAYA WILL LOSE! There, I said it, now don't kill me! Don't worry though, while this ending will probably disappoint many Hitsugaya fans (I'm one to ya know, this wasn't easy for me either! The guy is a bad ass!), I've come up with a conclusion that should help with the pain, so just try and enjoy the fight scene.

Once again, I apologize to anyone I just pissed off.

* * *

Matt's match against Toshiro was to take place immediately, and the only arena that was large and remote enough for two Bankai capable Soul Reapers to do battle without harming anyone or doing any damage were the former execution grounds. The place was pretty bland and dull; dead trees, rocky ground and completely flat. There was plenty of room, but the fact that it was a cliff worried him a little, it wouldn't exactly be good if it fell over.

What he was wondering though was whether Toshiro had voted for or against him. He'd seen plenty of people who didn't look to certain with him being here, and all they said was that it was a ten to three vote in his favor. It wasn't exactly important anymore, but he was still curious. The two were sitting at opposite ends of the grounds making last minute preparations.

Before he could call over and ask him though, the head captain –who he learned was captain-general Yamamoto- yelled to the two combatants.

"This will be a duel to submission, the first Soul Reaper to fall will lose, there are no restrictions, you may begin when you see fit!" he bellowed.

Toshiro jumped up and put a hand on his sword, Matt stood as well and fingered Gabriel's hilt. The two faced each other in the center of the grounds about ten feet from each other.

"Yo, before we start, I wanted to ask you something," said Matt.

"What is that?"

"Did you vote for or against me, for the Deputy rank I mean?"

He drew his sword and pointed it at Matt.

"As much as I hate to admit this, I voted for you. The desire to protect your best friend is something I can understand, and my personal opinions aside, I think anyone with that same goal is worthy of trust."

"I see, thanks then," said Matt as he drew Gabriel.

"Don't thank me yet, you still have to beat me."

Matt smirked. "Oh, is that all?"

Toshiro slid onto a stance, and Matt did the same; both of them preparing to release their zanpakuto.

"Bring Heavens Wrath: **Gabriel**!" shouted Matt.

"Sit Upon the Frosted Heavens: **Hyōrinmaru**!" shouted Toshiro.

The entire grounds were suddenly illuminated; one half with ice cold blue and the other with fire hot red. Matt emerged with his flaming claymore, and Toshiro with his sword completely covered in ice with the shape of a dragon; obviously it was a bit intimidating,

"Ice huh? Well this is pretty ironic, I'm using fire and you're using ice. Guess that sort of makes us natural rivals then," said Matt.

"In a sense, I suppose so."

Matt was grinning like crazy. "Well, let's see what that oversized zanpakuto can do, Frosty!"

He dashed forward and Hyorinmaru came down to meet him. As the dragon charged him, he jumped onto its head and ran down its length, dashing straight to his opponent. To counter his advance, Hyorinmaru turned about and came charging at Matt from behind. Matt jumped again, doing a back flip off the edge of the zanpakuto, and scrapped his blade against the neck area of the ice dragon. The resulting wound to Toshiro's zanpakuto steamed for a few seconds until it slowly reformed.

"What the?"

"It's a nice ability of Hyorinmaru's; he can take water from anywhere, even the air, and use it to repair damage," explained Toshiro.

"Nice, but let's see if he can repair this, _Sanctus Incendia_!"

Matt brought his blade down and a wave of fire flew forth, heading straight for the dragon zanpakuto. Hyorinmaru took the blow head on, resulting in an explosion. The damage had blown off part of its face and it looked weakened. While the zanpakuto repaired itself, Matt charged straight for Toshiro. As he closed in, he felt the zanpakuto coming up behind him again; he quickly turned around and blocked the dragon with Gabriel. The flames off his claymore were slightly melting the ice from Hyorinmaru, but with the force at which the damn thing was pushing, he'd be over the edge of the cliff any second.

Just as he thought, he felt the land disappear under his feet. He was plummeting down the execution grounds cliff at high speeds. Quickly, he gathered up his reiatsu, and breathed out a large stream of fire, using it like a thruster and flying himself back up. He rocketed past the cliff, and glided high in the air before beginning his decent; his target, a certain silver haired Soul Reaper. With his claymore held high, he came down on him with all his force, only to be intercepted by Hyorinmaru.

The dragon took the attack for Toshiro, which resulted in Matt vertically bisecting most of the dragon. With his weapon incapacitated, Matt slid down the falling dragons length, using it almost like one long ice-track. When he was finally in striking distance, Matt slammed both his feet into Toshiro's face, knocking him over. Matt stood victorious for a second, effectively standing on top of the captains face like a platform, until said captain grabbed onto his leg and began freezing it. Matt quickly jumped away, shaking his foot to free it from the thin layer of ice that had already formed.

"Damn, I didn't see that coming," he said, shaking off the last chips of ice.

He looked over at Toshiro, he was already up, but Hyorinmaru was pretty much totaled. There simply wasn't enough moisture in the air to repair him, and there were no open sources anywhere nearby.

"What's the matter Frosty, you zanpakuto busted?" mocked Matt. Even from there he could see the veins begin to pop out of his forehead.

He whipped Hyorinmaru over his head and brought it down, the two bisected halves of the dragon landing on either side of Matt. Then all of a sudden the two halves closed on him and trapped him in a sort of clamp. The two halves that held him there then began to freeze him; he watched as ice slowly crept us his arms and torso.

"Oh no ya don't!" he shouted.

He breathed out another jet of fire, and slowly began to thaw Hyorinmaru with the heat. Since the fire was so hot, it was burning up all the moisture in the area so there was no chance of it repairing itself. Once thin enough, he was able to physically break the dragon completely in half, and free himself at the same time. His left arm was still a bit frozen, and his hand was numb and unusable at the moment, but at least he had the advantage now. Toshiro's weapon was now half its original length and it was broken.

Matt made a frontal charge and was on his white haired opponent in seconds. He brought down his claymore, only to have it shatter the ground where Toshiro had been a second ago. The captain had sidestepped at the last moment, and the next thing Matt knew, the stub of Hyorinmaru smacked into his face, blowing him back to where he started.

Matt sat up and spit out the blood that had gathered in his mouth and flicked off the pieces of ice stuck on his face. Toshiro was on the move, and Matt met him halfway. He stabbed with Gabriel, only to have him actually get stuck in Hyorinmaru's stub. Before he could free his blade, Toshiro yanked his weapon up and tossed Matt into the air with Gabriel still stuck in Hyorinmaru. While Matt was flying helplessly into the air, Toshiro shunpo'd above him and brought down Hyorinmaru, slamming the blunt weapon into Matt's gut. He coughed up blood as he was sent right back down into the ground.

He landed with a big plume of dust. Toshiro flew down to deal another blow, but as he closed in, Matt jumped out of the cloud of dust, his index finger glowing red. Once his finger came into contact with Toshiro's chest, he let the Kido spell fly. The explosion that followed blew off a good portion of the execution grounds, as well as hurtled both combatants into the air. Matt had cast Shot of Red Fire without even naming the spell, causing it to destabilize and explode in both their faces.

With both of them facing each other in the air, Matt took stock of the results of his daring move. Toshiro was now bleeding from his mouth and forehead, as well as from a few cuts on his arms, and had a burn burn mark where the spell exploded on his chest. Matt felt blood dripping from his forehead as well, and his entire right forearm was burned. It was still usable, but painful to move.

Toshiro grabbed Gabriel from the remains of Hyorinmaru and tossed him back to Matt.

"What was that for?" he asked.

"I can't very well activate my Bankai with that stuck in there."

Matt smirked. "Bankai...sounds fun."

They both raised their blades, and gathered their reiatsu.

"Bankai!" they shouted in unison.

Once again, the execution was engulfed in light. This time however, both lights were white as snow and everyone within a number of miles had to shield their eyes from the intense light. When the two of them emerged from their respective spiritual energies, they examined each others Bankai.

Toshiro's most obvious change was that he had a pair of ice wings and a tail. His right arm was now completely covered in an arm guard in the shape of a dragon, and his left hand had an ice claw on it. He also noticed that there were a series of ice petals hovering over him.

"**Daiguren Hyōrinmaru.**" stated Toshiro.

"**Gabriel: Arcus Angelus.**" said Matt.

Matt felt the wind whip against his white trench coat and chill his now bare chest. He gripped his blade tighter, and brought up the white fiery blade. They both shunpo'd to each other and locked their blades, the flames of Matt's blade sparking against the bare metal of Toshiro's. They attacked each other at rapid speeds, always using shunpo to try and out maneuver the other.

They finally stopped when their blades locked again, and they were left staring at each other at only a two foot distance. Both sets of cold blue eyes met hardened as they pushed at each other for dominance.

"You're pretty good," complimented Toshiro.

"Not bad yourself there Frosty," he responded, adding what Toshiro expected to be a permanent nickname.

Matt saw his chance, and took a deep breath. Toshiro knew what he was planning on doing, as he'd already done it twice already, and broke off from the contest of blades to close his wings around him. Just as he encased himself, Matt let fly a jet of white fire that seemed to engulf the ice covered captain. In reality, Toshiro's wings were keeping the flames away from him, but only just barely. The white flames seemed to be at least ten times hotter than the stuff he was using before.

When the flames stopped, Toshiro open his wings back up and flew at Matt. He'd been pushed back a few dozen feet from the force of the flames. As he charged him, Matt raised his blade and prepared his signature attack. The captain saw this just in time and brought up a wing to protect against the blast.

"_Sanctus Incendia!_" shouted Matt.

The wave of white flames collided with the solid ice of Toshiro's wing which resulted in an explosion that blew off said captains right wing. However, Toshiro controlled the fragments of ice and shot them at Matt like bullets. He shunpo'd away and dodged most of the shards, but two had been close enough to slice into this left side, and another into his left thigh. He grunted in pain and sucked in air through gritted teeth.

Matt charged Toshiro with all his speed, and slashed at his chest. Toshiro dodged to the side at the last moment and Matt ended up slashing his iced over arm guard instead, though he did end up slicing through most of his upper arm after melting away the ice. The blood that flew out of the wound boiled as it came into close proximity to Matts blade.

As he skidded to a stop, he stole a look at Toshiro's petals, there seemed to be at least three fourths the amount as there used to be a minute ago. That's when he figured it must be connected with how long he can keep his Bankai going. All he had to do was keep him fighting until all those petal dissolved, and then he'd lose his Bankai. The problem was lasting that long, he was pretty tired already too, and Toshiro was a tough customer. He decided to stay on the offensive for now.

With that, he went at Toshiro again. He slammed his blade into the silver haired captains and began forcing him back. What he wasn't expecting was Toshiro's tail to come out from underneath them. As he leaped back the damn thing stabbed straight through his right shoulder, piercing through his shoulder plate and everything. He was dazed by the pain for a second, then brought up Gabriel and sliced through the tail, severing the end of it from the rest.

He yanked the bloody tail from his shoulder and panted rapidly to regain his breath. When he recovered, he gripped the tail and held it like a javelin. As Toshiro advanced toward him, he threw the spiked tail back at him. Toshiro, thinking he was aiming for him, lifted his left wing to block the attack, but the impact never came. Instead, Matt threw the ice spike at a set of his petals above his head, shattering all four of them and reducing his total power down to half. He felt the effects instantly as his speed decreased and he suddenly became more fatigued.

Still, he had covered enough distance to be within striking distance of Matt, and swiped his blade through his chest as he recovered from the toss with his injured arm. Blood now oozed from Matt's side, and more blood dribbled out his mouth. Toshiro came around for another pass, but Matt was expecting this and leaned to the side, dodging the attempted stab. Instead, Matt Reached forward and grasped Toshiro's ice covered arm and pulled himself closer. He proceeded to knee Toshiro in the gut, causing him to cough up blood all over Matt's face. He followed up this attack with a hammer-like headbutt, blowing his ice covered opponent into the ground below.

He descended down after him, and was hellbent on landing the final blow. He was unsuccessful however, as Toshiro's tail came out of nowhere again and slammed into the side of his head, sending Matt skidding across the ground. The two of them regained their balance and stood surveying each other again.

Toshiro was in pretty bad shape; his arm guard was crumbling, his left wing was broken in half, and he was down to his last few petals. Matt wasn't doing much better; he was losing a lot of blood from his side, his arm was still burned and bleeding, and he was pretty sure he had a concussion as well as at least two broken ribs.

"This has been pretty fun!" said Matt.

"You have a strange definition of fun!" shot back Toshiro.

"Lighten up Frosty, this is the last leg of the race ya know!"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean, you're exhausted, I'm exhausted, and I seriously doubt either of us is going to do this much longer without killing ourselves! I say we just hit each other with one last attack and call it a day!"

Toshiro smirked and held his blade at the ready. Matt did the same and gathered what little energy he had left to attack. They both dashed at each other, not even bothering with fancy moves or attacks, this was just about shoving as much reiatsu into their blades as possible. As the closed in on each other, the spiritual pressure began to rise and the air grew denser. Matt swung his blade at Toshiro, and he swung his at Matt, both of them sliding to a stop a few feet away from each other.

They both stood there for only a moment, wondering which one of them had landed a blow. Then blood suddenly splattered out of wounds running down both their torso's, equal in both size and depth. Matt and Toshiro both fell to their knees and then to the ground. As Matt hit the floor, he smiled...at least he had had fun while it lasted.

* * *

Matt woke with a start, and tried to sit up, only to have a sharp pain shoot up his body that caused him to fall back down onto his bed. He looked around and found himself in a familiar room that he remembered being in a little over two weeks ago. The fourth division infirmary, he hadn't been here since he met Nathan and he had been brought to the Seireitei for the first time.

"Oh, I'm gonna be sore for a while," he groaned.

"Quit whining," said a voice to his left.

He looked over and saw that familiar outcrop of silver hair and completely neutral disposition. Toshiro was laying in the bed next to his, completely bandaged around his torso, right arm, and around his forehead. Matt himself had bandages in much the same places.

"Hey there, Frosty," Matt greeted.

"I hate that nickname."

"Well too bad, because I'm sticking to it."

He sat back in his bed and sighed, the thought just occurred to him that he had probably lost.

"So...what's gonna happen to me now?" he asked.

"What do you think, you're getting your badge and heading home."

Matt cocked an eyebrow and tilted his head. "Huh?"

Toshiro sighed and closed his eyes. "As cheap as it sounds, you won, literally, by a second. See, the first person to go down loses, and I just happened to hit the ground a second before you did, so you technically won."

"...Wow, that is cheap. Oh well; we'll just call it a draw between the two of us then, so expect me to swing by again some time to settle the score, alright Frosty?"

"Hn...sounds like fun."

Matt laughed and settled into his bed further when he heard someone push open the door and walk through. He looked over again, and saw captain Jushiro along with Nathan and Rukia walk in, all with smiles on their faces.

"Hey guys, I'd get up to say hi, but I'm pretty banged up."

"Don't bother, we only stopped by to drop off a present," said Nathan.

The captain nodded. "That's right. Matt Anderson, it is with great pride and joy that I present you with your official Deputy Soul Reaper combat pass badge. You are now under record of being a deputy Soul Reaper in the Seireitei archives, and will be permitted to pass between the Soul Society and the Human world at your own schedule unless explicitly ordered otherwise."

He unwrapped a silk package to reveal the brown pentagonal badge with a skull insignia on it. He reached out and grasped it, feeling a warm tingling sensation as he finally held onto what he'd been working so hard for. He held it in close to his face, taking the thing in, and realized that once he was healed up he could go home. He actually felt tears start to well up in his eyes and quickly wiped them away with the bandages on his arm.

"Nice going mate," said Nathan, holding out his hand.

Matt gasped it firmly and shook. "Thanks Nathan."

When he let go, he turned his attention to Rukia. Or he would have, but she had already latched onto him in a particularly painful hug considering his injuries.

"I'm so proud of you!"

"Yeah, great, now can you let go, that kind of hurts," he grunted.

She backed off immediately and scratched the back of her head sheepishly. "Heh, sorry."

"Rukia, Nathan, let's go. Matt, you need to rest, tomorrow when your wounds are healed you can head back home."

"Thanks guys...for everything."

They all flashed one last smile and left the infirmary, leaving Matt to rest. He smiled to himself, and turned over onto his side to go to sleep.

"Night, Frosty."

He smiled even more to himself as he heard the captain groan at his new nickname. With that, he fell asleep with a huge sense of victory.

* * *

**And that's that. I hope I did Frosty justice, because as I said before, I'm a fan of his to. Now, this particular story only has about two more chapters left; the final chapter and the epilogue. I'd also like to resolve one last thing out that some of you are pointing out. No, Matt is NOT going to end up with Holly; they're best friends and that's it, that's all there is to it. I've decided to introduce an new OC in the next story that will act as Matt's point of affection.**

**Also, we have an actual antagonist in the next story to, and I'm gooooood with antagonists.**

**Next chapter though, Matt heads back to Seattle and everything will fall into place to set up the sequel. It's been a good run guys, so after this is all over, keep a look out for Guardian Angel II, because I'll most likely have it out very soon after I finish up with this one.**


	11. Chapter 11: Home Sweet Home

Guardian Angel

Chapter 11

**Home Sweet Home**

**Disclaimer:** Bleach is not mine.

Okay, so this is the last actual chapter, not counting the epilogue. After I finish said epilogue, I'll start work on Guardian Angel II. I just want to say right now, that this is, unfortunately, not one of my better chapters in my opinion. I'm pretty sleep deprived, so forgive the poor quality.

On one last note, I just wanted to thank all you readers out there for sticking with this story all the way through. I'd like to make special notice to my three top readers: Human. Vizard for being my first reviewer, HistugayaToshiro96 for volunteering a plethora of idea's for the upcoming sequel, and Kuroi Amaya for her enthusiastic encouragement. You three made writing this story worth wild, and I'd be honored to see you reviewing the sequel.

Let's get this last one out of the way.

* * *

Matt had finally been released an hour ago from the infirmary. The doctors insisted that he say another few hours to recover more fully, but Matt was certain they were convinced when he threw both said doctors through the wall when they wouldn't let him leave. His wounds had already healed quite nicely; they had some killer medicine in the Soul Society. The only wound that hadn't quite repaired itself yet was where Toshiro had delivered his final slash to his torso.

He had gathered up Gabriel, the cloak that Ichigo had given him back in Karakura town, and his brand new Deputy badge which he had tied around his waist and wore it with pride. He was congratulated by almost everyone he passed; apparently news traveled quick in the Soul Society.

He was coming up on the gate that led back to the world of the living. As he approached said gate, he noticed four more figures than the usual two guards. Once he was close enough, he saw Nathan, Rukia, captain Jushiro, and Toshiro; they were all standing there waiting for him.

"Hey everybody, come to see me off?" he asked cheerily.

"That, and we have some last few things to discuss," said Jushiro.

"Like what?"

"Well, while you were recovering last night, we arranged everything back in Seattle for your return."

Matt was still confused. "I'm still not following."

"For starters, we augmented the memories of your family and family friends so they'd forget about your death. Next, we also augmented the police' memories and wiped all records of your death from the computers," explained Nathan.

"What about the news channels, I'm sure they reported about me?"

"Not to worry, I won't go into all the details, but we released a report last night through the media. It said that there was an error and your name came up by accident, if anyone asks, you've been at camp for the last two weeks or so," continued Nathan.

"There was a lot more effort that went into it than what we've told you, but basically, no one will even remember you died, it'll be like you just went away for a while. We already have a gigai waiting for you when you get back. You can return to your family and your regular life, but still be a Soul Reaper at the same time," finished Jushiro.

Matt stood there dumbfounded. "Wow, and you guys did this all in one night?"

Nathan shrugged. "Hey, those special forces guys are fast."

"You used the special forces for that?" Matt laughed.

"All that work and that's the thanks we get?" said Rukia sarcastically.

Matt put up has hands defensively.

"No, no, I'm grateful. I appreciate what you guys did, seriously."

Nathan smiled and put his hand, which Matt responded to by giving him a high five, then moved on to Jushiro, who put a hand on his shoulder and smiled. Rukia gave him another hug, which he was able to return this time, and finally came up to Toshiro.

"Well, I guess I'll see ya around Frosty."

Before he took another step though, Toshiro extended his hand to Matt. The silver haired captain refused to make eye contact, but still offered his hand. Matt smiled and took it, gripping it firmly.

"See ya, I guess," he mumbled.

"Remember, I'll be back for a rematch, so be ready," Matt warned.

As Matt was about to finally walk through the gate, Jushiro stopped him. He looked up at the white haired man with a confused look.

"There is one last thing you should know."

"What is it?"

"You friend Holly, she's become spiritually aware."

Matt's eyes bulged at his words. "Are you serious?"

"Yes, she spotted a Soul Reaper assigned you Seattle yesterday, her memory is the only one that hasn't been altered. I thought that she would be helpful in performing your duties if you explained everything to her."

"Alright, thanks for the heads up."

Jushiro smiled again. "Not a problem, now I suggest you get moving, you have duties to fulfill now."

"Right. Well, I'll see you all around, I promise not to be a stranger."

He took one last look at everyone, then stepped through the gate. Before he knew it, he was now standing on soft grass and was staring at bunches of trees. He realized he was standing in the park, not his favorite spot, but he was still in the park. He looked around, and his gigai was stashed behind a bush and leaning against a tree. It was dressed in blue jeans and a black T-shirt with the Linkin Park logo on the front. (I love those guys.)

He jumped in and melded with the physical body. After a moment of getting comfortable, he shook his limbs to make sure the body worked properly. When he was satisfied, he walked out onto the cobblestone walkways. His clothes fit perfectly and he could still feel his reiatsu, so he could at least still use kido in a crunch.

"Ah, thank you special forces," he said to himself as he stretched out with his spiritual senses. He decided that his first order of business would be to find Holly and get the whole, 'I'm still dead but I'm also not', thing out of the way. She wasn't hard to find, the only spiritually powerful being besides her and him were a few other Soul Reapers in the city. He actually sensed that she was close by, but there was something else that made his heart race; there were three other spiritual pressures around her, and they weren't Soul Reapers.

* * *

How in Gods name did she get herself into this mess? She just came here to relax, to be alone, to get away from everything that normally made her life so hard. This place had always been so tranquil, always provided her with a sense of peace. But now, now this place was filled with nothing but fear and dread.

She sat on her knees, facing three horrible creatures that she couldn't even guess where they came from. They were all different shades of brown and green, but they all had one thing in common, they all wore skeletal masks. Their presence was cold and empty, and their laughs were chilling to the bone. Fear filled Holly's eyes, and tears threatened to spill out her eyes any second.

The middle creature suddenly raised its hand, and prepared to bring it down on her. As it did this though, she felt a new sensation enter the mix; it was warm and comforting, like she'd known it for years. Then, out of no where, and red beam shot past her and collided with the creatures head, knocking it over and causing it to disintegrate. The next thing she knew, a pair of strong arms picked her up and carried her to the other side of the pond in the clearing.

She was put down gently and looked up at her savior, and the face stopped her cold. The deep blue eyes, the raven black hair, he was even wearing the same clothes he was wearing the day he died; it was Matt. He looked down at her and smiled like nothing was wrong.

"What's up Holly," he said nonchalantly.

"M-matt...how did..."

"Don't worry about that right now, at the moment I've got a job to do," he said standing up, pulling out a brown talisman looking object. He walked straight up to the two creatures left, who were much more nervous now. He held up the object and stared them down.

"Who are you?" asked one of the creatures.

"Name's Matt Anderson, newly instated Deputy class Soul Reaper. I do believe you two boys are in violation of some rules here, namely the assault and attempted consumption of a human soul."

Holly sat behind him, not quite understanding what exactly was going on. What were these things, what was a Soul Reaper, for that matter, how was Matt here?

She cut her own thoughts short as she watched intently at Matt's movements. He held up his hand and pointed out his index and middle fingers, pointing one at either of the two creatures. Suddenly they began to glow in a white aura at their tips.

"Way of Destruction 4: _White Lightning_."

Two small but fast white beams erupted from Matt's hands and shot the creatures in the head. They both disintegrated before they hit the ground, leaving nothing behind. With that, Matt turned around and returned to where Holly was sitting in a total state of confusion and awe.

"M-matt..." she managed to get out.

"I know...we have a lot to talk about. What say we head back to my house and I'll explain everything," he said, holding out his hand.

She slowly took it and nodded. He smiled, lifted her up easily, and led her out of the clearing.

* * *

Things only got weirder for Holly when they arrived at Matt's house. For one, his parents were acting completely normal, they even asked him how camp was; what was that about? Not only that, but when they arrived at his room, all his stuff was still there, even though she'd seen his parents pack up most of it just a few days ago. There was no way they could have put everything back in order like that, it was so weird.

Then the weirdest things of all came. Matt began his explanation of what had transpired in the clearing and what had happened to him the last two, almost three weeks. He talked about people he'd met, tried to explain where he'd been and why she could see all these strange things. It was all so confusing, but she was honestly trying to understand.

"Okay, so let me see if I understand everything. You're died and became a...Soul Reaper, which is sort of like a police officer for ghosts. You were in Japan being trained by this guy named Ichigo. Now your living in an artificial body and everyone's minds have been erased so it was like you never died?"

He shrugged. "That's the basic gist of it, yeah."

"So if everyone had their minds erased or something, how come I remember everything?" she asked, still confused.

"Because, you're spiritually aware. You can see Soul Reapers and Hollows; most people can't. You would have found out eventually anyway, plus, the Soul Society thought you might be helpful."

"Helpful? How would I be helpful?"

"You can spot Hollows; plus, if you're spiritually aware, you might develop some unique abilities of your own," he explained.

"So...what happens now?"

Matt just shrugged. "Nothing, I go back to living here. Gigai age just like humans do. Granted my true Soul Reaper form will age much slower, but I'll still look the right age in this thing. The only real difference here is that I'll be fighting Hollows and such; other than that, it's back to normal."

"Normal isn't quite the word I'd use," commented Holly.

"Okay, point taken."

He laid down on his bed and spread out on it, sighing in comfort. He looked out the window next to his bead and stared out at the Seattle skyline.

"Man, it's good to be back."

"It's good to have you back, things were so different without you here," she admitted.

He lifted his head and grinned.

"Yeah well, you don't have to worry about me going anywhere this time."

She sighed and sat down next to him on his bed.

"Good, there's been too much drama lately, a little normalcy would be nice."

The two sat there for a while in silence, both of them absorbing everything that had happened lately. Matt thinking about all the battles and training, and Holly was thinking about all the soul searching he'd done.

"So, tomorrow is Saturday, you wanna do something?"

"Yeah, we could go see a moving or something."

Matt cocked his eyebrow. "What, no dates with Brandon or something like that?"

At the mention of that jackass she felt a pang of guilt.

"No, I dumped him a week ago."

Matt smiled at this; hell, he even laughed.

"I can't say I'm not happy to hear it," he admitted.

"You don't need to worry either; I'm never skipping out on another Saturday again."

He laughed again and sat up. "Well, we've got some free time now, let's head to the arcade."

Holly nodded and followed Matt out of his house. As they headed down the sidewalk though, Matt's badge began to go off and he sensed a Hollow nearby. He sighed and brought out the badge.

"Can you look after my gigai for a while?"

She nodded. "Go on, it's your job after all."

He gripped the badge and popped out of his artificial body, revealing his robed Soul Reaper form with the brown cloak that Ichigo had given him.

"I'll be back in about ten minutes," he said, and gave a quick salute before leaping off after the Hollow.

Holly held onto the limp gigai and sighed.

'_Yeah...this is definitely going take getting used to.' _She thought to herself as she dragged the gigai back into the house. Despite how weird everything had gotten though, she couldn't help but smile. For better or worse, she had her best friend back, and life would be anything but boring now.

* * *

**Okay, maybe not the best ending, but we still have the epilogue coming. It'll act as the bridge between the events of this story and the sequel. I'm sorry if this chapter was a little lame, but I'm kinda sleep deprived as it is, so cut me some slack please.**

**The epilogue will be better I promise, and the sequel will be much longer than this one was. If I had to classify this story, I'd describe it more as an interlude or an introduction to the sequel than an actual stand-alone story. What I'm trying to say is that what happened here really just set up the _actual_ story.**


	12. Epilogue: Not Over by A Long Shot

Guardian Angel

Epilogue

**Not Over by A Long Shot**

**Disclaimer: **Bleach is never going to be mine, and that eats at my soul. It really does.

Okay, so this is the Epilogue that introduced the new OC I mentioned earlier, and also the new villain(s). The sequel will be taking place another six months after this Epilogue, so basically a year after the original story. This is where the really important stuff will start to reveal itself, like the origins of how Matt _really _got Gabriel for a zanpakuto.

Just as last time, we've go the return of Bleach favorite such as Hitsugaya and Ichigo, who will be helping with the fight in later chapters. What I think you guys will like is that every character will have its own set nemesis in the group of villains I've set up, but you'll have to wait to find out the details.

For now, let's finally finish Guardian Angel part 1...SO I CAN WORK ON THE SEQUEL!

* * *

_Six Months Later_

There were days in Nathan's life where he hated being a Lieutenant; today was one of those days. The zanpakuto combat instructor for the last year students just _had_ to come down with the flu today. Normally this wouldn't have affected Nathan in slightest, but he didn't count on his overly-charitable captain. Without even consulting him, captain Ukitake had gone and volunteered him to teach the class until the instructor recovered!

That wasn't the worst of it either. Apparently, a live fire exercise was scheduled in the world of the living for the class today, which meant Nathan would have to lead it. That was the last thing he wanted to do today, watch after a bunch of sniffling greenhorns while they make pathetic attempts to defeat low level Hollows.

There was one bright spot in this storm of misery; he got to choose which city they meant to. He figured he'd at least be able to run into Matt while he was out babysitting; they hadn't seen each other for about three months now. So far however, his friend proved to be quite elusive, as he'd been here for at least an hour and there wasn't one sign of him. It was well after three so he shouldn't be in school at this hour, so he really had no idea where else to look.

"Come on you bastard, where are you?" he mumbled to himself.

His thoughts were cut short when one of the students came up to him with a worried look on his face.

"Sir, I hate to bother you, but I think we're missing someone here," he said.

"Who are we missing?"

He shook his head. "I'm not sure sir, I just feel like someone is missing."

Nathan sighed and took a look at a stapled together list of class information. There were pictures to names to make it easier for substitute instructors like Nathan to become acquainted with the class better. He looked down and saw everyone gathered around him, and they all matched up until he came across one of the last names on the list; a girl named Koshino Nagasawa. From her bio she had brown hair a little past her shoulders, green eyes, and was about 5'10. She definitely wasn't there.

"Damn it, today just keeps getting better," he hissed to himself.

"Just keep everyone here and I'll go and look for her, and I mean it, stay put," he ordered.

The student nodded and Nathan shunpo'd off.

* * *

Elsewhere in Seattle, Koshino was enjoying her time in the world of the living. Having been born in the Soul Society, she'd never been to the world of the living before and she was curious. Besides, Lieutenant Yester was a pretty inattentive guy form what she'd seen, he'd never know she was gone.

Koshino had always been the adventurous type, she couldn't sit still for the life of her and when you present a fascinating place like this to a girl like her, you can't expect her to stay close for long. This place was exciting for more than one reason, to her in particular.

See, this city was supposedly the home of a Soul Reaper named Matt Anderson. A Deputy Soul Reaper who -if the rumors were true- rose to captain level skill and power in just a few weeks time. He'd become an urban legend of sorts at the academy; no one she knew was one hundred percent certain he existed, but Koshino was. For one, she'd over heard the Lieutenant say he was looking for someone important here; who else could he mean? She wished she was a graduated Soul Reaper, then she could access the archives, but students weren't allowed there. She was sure that if he existed -and she was certain he did- he'd be recorded in the archives.

She had to meet him, to learn his tricks. If he could gain that much power in such a short amount of time, then it should be a cake walk for her. She was not only the top of her class, but she was from a pretty influential family. Not one of the four noble houses of course, but her family was still well wired into the political system of the Soul Society. Being a Soul Reaper came naturally to her, everything she tried she automatically excelled at.

That was why she wanted to meet him; if she could learn how he became so strong, she was sure she could rise to captain level strength in no time. Who knows, she might be even stronger than that. If he was here though, he sure knew how to hide his spiritual pressure, because she wasn't sensing anything.

She stopped at what appeared to be a park, taking a look around and resting a bit at the same time. As she sat down, she felt a spiritual pressure suddenly spike, so much so that it was almost painful. She knew it immediately, it had to be him. She forgot her fatigue and jumped off after the new spiritual pressure. She ran across rooftops and jumped over streets, coming ever closer to the person she was looking for.

The spiritual pressure was massive, and it was everywhere, like there was so much it was leaking right out of his body. She jumped over one last building, and finally saw him.

He was down in a deserted parking lot facing down a Hollow. He wore a brown cloak over a standard Soul Reaper robe, and a double edged sword drawn. She couldn't see much of him, but she could tell from her distance that he had hair black as the night sky.

She watched with absolute focus as the Hollow made a vain attempt to strike him down, only to have him simply sidestep, and then quickly dismember it. He was now roaring in pain at the loss of its hand; so much so it fail to notice he was now atop it's head. With one swift thrust, the sword plunged itself into the beasts head, cracking the mask in half and disintegrated it.

She herself had never fought a Hollow, that was what this exercise was for, but he made it look so incredibly easy. She quickly jumped down off the building to meet him. He sensed her spiritual pressure well before she revealed herself, but he honestly wasn't all that interested, seeing as there was a Hollow in front of him at that point in time. Now that it was gone though, he figured he might as well stick around to see what the girl wanted. He jumped back into his gigai and dusted his cloths off.

She approached him slowly when she got closer; he stood there completely calm as she walked up to him. She could see him in more detail now; his hair was even blacker up close, he had the deepest blue eyes she'd ever seen, he wore a jacket over his normal shirt and a pair jeans. She honestly didn't expect him to look the same age as her, and she had to admit, he was quite…handsome.

She shook her head and cleared her thoughts, preparing to introduce herself when suddenly he jumped at her and tackled her to the ground. A second later and explosion ripped open the ground where she was just standing. They rolled to a stop and Matt looked up at where the blast had come from. Atop the office building overlooking the parking lot was a cloaked man with an extended hand.

Matt extended his index finger at the man and it began to glow red.

"Way of Destruction 31: _Shot of Red Fire_!"

A beam of red reiatsu exploded from his finger at the man, but before the blast could make contact he disappeared. The beam overshot and flew harmlessly into the sky; lucky kido were invisible to the average human eye or everyone would have seen it.

"Damn it," he cursed to himself.

It was then that she noticed his right arm was around her waist and she began to blush. He didn't seem to notice and helped her up without a word. Just when she was about to asked what had just happened, a new voice pierced the air.

"There you are you wanker!" the voice shouted.

The two of them looked up and saw Nathan standing atop the building that Koshino had been on when she first arrived. He jumped down and stared Matt right in the face; they were both silent for a full minute. Koshino started to wonder if the two had a grudge against each other or something until the two of them both started to crack up in laughter.

"Ah, it's good to see you again mate," he said, wiping his eye.

"Yeah, I didn't know you'd be coming here, what's with the sudden visit?"

He grunted. "I volunteered to take some academy students on their first Hollow hunt."

Matt smirked. "Jushiro forced you into it didn't he."

"Yeah," he sighed.

He turned his attention onto Koshino. "So I'm assuming this is one of your students then."

He nodded, "Yeah, she was _supposed_ to stay with the group, but apparently your little laser light show caught her attention."

"It was weird, there was a guy who just came out of no where and shot at me, and then when I shot back, he ran away. I've seen guys like him around before, but they never attacked me so I assumed they were just with the Special Forces or something."

"We've gotten reports from the other Soul Reapers stationed here about the same people, we're looking into it, but nothing so far. I suggest you just keep your eyes open for now."

"Sure thing; now what's your story?" he asked Koshino.

"This Matt, is Koshino Nagasawa, top of her class and apparently too good to stay with the group," he scolded.

Matt put a hand on her shoulder. "Lay off her Nathan, she was just helping me with a Hollow, that's all. I wouldn't have accepted the help if I'd known she was a student, but what's done is done."

She gave him a confused look.

"Just roll with it; trust me, he's dumb enough to believe it," he whispered into her ear.

She fought off a giggle and tried to maintain a serious composure. Nathan had his arms folded and sighed.

"Yeah alright, I guess I'll let this one slide."

Koshino bowed. "Thank you, sir."

Then she turned to Matt and bowed again. "And thank you for saving me from that blast, I'm in your debt."

He put his hands behind his head and smiled. "Nah, I'm not the kind of guy to collect debts, but you can do me a favor."

She looked up with an eye brown raised. "What is it?"

"Just keep making this guys life a living hell and I'll consider you off the hook."

She giggled and nodded.

"I hate you so much right now," said Nathan.

"I know, I can just feel the love. Now if you two will excuse me, I'm heading home," he said, pulling out an Ipod and sticking the earpieces into place.

"Oh, Nathan, if you see Frosty when you get back, tell him I said hi," he called back at them as he left.

"Oy...well come on Koshino, we're due back at the academy."

They both made their way back to the rest of the group via rooftops. Koshino was disappointed she didn't get to ask any of the questions she was hoping to, but it hadn't been a total loss, it was quite an unique experience. She had no idea that Lieutenant Yester knew Matt Anderson; hell, she could say beyond a shadow of a doubt that _she'd_ met him, which would most likely make everyone else at the academy jealous.

To make up for her failure to get the information she wanted, all she had to do was fight for a spot here in Seattle, once she graduated in two months. Once that happened, then she'd be able to see how he became so strong, and then things would start falling into place.

That hooded man really made her worry though; who was he and why did he attack them without provocation? She supposed she'd worry about it later, after all, what was the worst that could happen?

* * *

The hooded man walked down the darkened halls of their lair. He was staring down the long hall that with the two great wooden doors that lead to the main hall. Despite the size, he pushed them aside easily with more force than was necessary, which caused them to slam against the wall and alert everyone to his arrival. He walked to the center of the room and stood. There were eight thrones in front of him; seven in up front and one large one in the back. Of the front seven, one was vacant, which was his.

A sharp but soft voice pierced the dark air. "What do you have for me Ira?"

"The fucker's fast, he even dodged one of my blasts and was quick enough to return fire before I made my escape."

"Impressive, though I don't ever recall giving you orders to attack him," the voice said, darkening in tone.

"I don't get why we have to do all this sneaking around shit, I can take him out no problem!" the man named Ira shouted.

Suddenly a force plucked him from the ground and raised him into the air, then slammed him against the wall on the far side of the room. He struggled against the invisible grip, but could barely move.

"Do you think yourself superior to me Ira?" the voice asked blankly.

"N-no."

"Then why do you continually defy my orders. We cannot afford to have the Soul Society digging too deeply into our affairs, especially a certain Deputy Soul Reaper who happens to live in this city. If we were to be discovered before our plan comes to completion, the results could be disastrous," he explained in a monotone voice.

"Is this understood?"

"Yes...y-yes."

"Good, I'd hate to have to dismember you...again."

At that, he was released from the invisible grip and dropped to the floor with a thud. He gasped for air and coughed from the dirt of the ground making its way into his lungs.

"When is out next move my lord?" asked a deeper voice from the second throne to the right.

"Patience Gula, we have much to do before we reveal ourselves again, for now we shant mettle in the affairs of the Soul Reapers or the humans. For now, it is nothing but a waiting game. You are all dismissed, I shall summon you again tomorrow and we will review our plans. For now, get out of my sight."

As Ira rose and left the main hall, he fingered the stump where his left arm used to be. That was his prize for disobeying his masters wishes one too many times. That was what he hated most, being ordered around like some lap dog, but for now there was nothing to be done, he had his own plans in place, and it too was nothing but a waiting game.

* * *

**Alright, some of you might be asking yourselves, 'What the F#k is going on here!?'. Well, this is why this is an Epilogue, your not supposed to understand what's going on...at least not yet anyway. If you look hard enough, you'll be able to find out what my villains themes are just by typing in their names on like google or something. I tell you this because, 1.) then I'll know I've caught your interest, and 2.) because even if you catch onto the theme, you still won't have any idea what the hell's going on until we get to the point where I have to explain everything to you.**

**Just know that Matt is heading for the fight of his life, and a lot of things are going to change. Both for him and everyone he knows**. **Oh, and if you guys haven't caught on yet; yes, Koshino is who I'm pairing Matt with.** **I'm trying not to make her into a lame Mary-Sue character, but It's hard. **

**Anyway, this concludes Guardian Angel part I, and I'll have the sequels first chapter done by either tomorrow or the day after that. That's right, I'm no pussyfootin' around with this, I'm keeping the momentum rolling!  
**


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